Déjà vu
by ItsThatGayGirl
Summary: F/F Lexark Fic. Alicia meets an Australian stranger who rescues her from a horde of walkers. Their bond grows, much further than Elyza would've expected and further than Alicia would've liked. They must get Alicia back to her family, even if it could mean that Elyza may never see her again. On Hiatus until further inspiration.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.**

 **AN: This is my very first Fanfic (I know it's not the first time you've heard that one), but I just want to let you guys know that I am definitely open to criticism. I want to learn to get better at writing but I can only do that with your feedback. This is a Lexark fic that has quite a few head-cannons from Tumblr, as well as my own little details. I don't know how long I plan to make this fic yet but I will warn you though that the content will eventually get mature as the story progresses. Thank you.**

* * *

She knew it was a bad idea. She knew even before they stepped foot back on land. She told them too, but no. No one listens to a seventeen-year-old, even in the apocalypse. And yet, because of their stupidity here she was, running for her life. Again.

Her breathing became ragged and shortened quite quickly. But she kept on running, even though her thighs and calves burned in protest. She took a left and ran into an alley, hoping to catch her breath. As soon as she turned the corner she collapsed against the brick wall, held into a standing position only by her shoulder blades and whatever strength was left in her legs. She took a couple seconds to breathe, in, and out, in, and out. She never had many issues with anxiety before all this, but things can change after the apocalypse, and mental health was definitely no exception. She continued her breathing exercises for a few seconds more before turning her head to look around the brick corner and look back to where she had previously ran from.

 _No infected,_ she thought, relieved. She must've ran far enough to lose them. _But now what?_ She thought, as another, nearly crippling wave of anxiety poured over her.

* * *

It was her mother's idea to leave the safety of their island to go get supplies. It was a valid idea but with the infected walking about everywhere it would be very dangerous. Alicia had suggested that they just continue with their fishing approach but the rest of the group shot it down immediately. They couldn't afford to waste time on something that had yet to be successful. Alicia's mother proposed instead that they go onto the mainland town to raid stores instead.

"If we can raid a grocery store or maybe a pharmacy then we wouldn't have to worry about food, water or medicine for a while." Alicia's mother said. "We are getting low on supplies and I'm not sure that we can last much longer."

So it was then decided that the group would go on the boat and look for a grocery store. Everyone was hopeful that they could have a successful raid to last them at least through the week, even Alicia was hopeful when she got off the boat, despite the fact that she still thought it was a terrible idea. They went over the safety rules, including the one where if they get separated then the boat will wait near the docks for three days. No more, no less.

To put it bluntly, it ended up being anything but successful. To begin with many places were already raided, filled with the infected or more often a combination of both. When they finally found a tiny organic foods store that seemed to be untouched, they went in, gathering everything from the shelves, not even bothering to check what it was. That could be done later, back at the island. They had gotten so supply happy that they forgot to assign someone to keep watch. Therefore, not noticing the other customers shuffling and limping into the organic store, customers that were less than interested in the organic kale.

Alicia was the first to notice the horde, wisely not screaming but instead running to the others to warn them. Her step-brother however, didn't have the same idea. He screamed at the top of his lungs, warning all infected within a block's radius of their existence, well, those that didn't already know. The group panicked, some running out the back door, like her mother and her brother, but others such as her step-father and step-brother chose to weave their way to the front door. Alicia had hesitated, unsure of whether to follow her mother or step-brother. The front door was closer but it had the infected pouring in. She could try to make it to the back door but that would put her uncomfortably close to some infected that tried to follow her mother and brother. She took out the hunting knife she had been given by her brother on the boat ride over, hoping that she wouldn't have to use it, and ran for the back door.

She weaved her way around distracted infected, even bumping into one's shoulder when it gave little running space in the aisle. Luckily, none of them had quick enough reaction times to grab her. She made it to the back door and slammed her body against it, which did open it after a second slam. She was just too terrified to stop and use the handle, which would've slowed her down. But that didn't matter anyway because as soon as she stepped into the alley she froze, because there were two directions, and only one way her family could've gone. She was too late to find any evidence for where her mother and brother had gone. To her right the alley opened up to the main road, and to her left the alley deepened. She had only moments to make a decision since the infected weren't that far behind her in the store.

Her breathing spiked, and without any other information to aid her she chose to go right. She ran, not looking behind her even though she could hear the groans that definitely weren't human, not anymore anyways. She reassured herself after remembering how her step-father and step-brother had gone out the front door. But when she ran around the corner and into the sunlight of the main road she stopped again. Her step-brother's scream had apparently attracted an entire horde. She exhaled a small sound of utter desperation and fear, before running in the opposite direction of the horde, which were piling themselves into the store.

She ran up the main road, away from the horde, but also unfortunately away from her scattered family. She kept running and didn't look back. She probably had run several blocks, fueled by her adrenaline, but then again she didn't count, which might become a problem when she wanted to find her family.

When she felt she was going to collapse she turned the corner into an alley way.

* * *

 _But now what?_ Alicia thought as another, nearly crippling wave of anxiety poured over her. Alicia resumed her breathing exercises which increasingly became shaky and weak. _I lost them, ran away from the store, but… now what do I do?_ Alicia thought, looking around at the brick alley for any ideas for a plan.

Organizing her thoughts always seemed to relieve panic, and usually ended in good decisions too. So that's what she decided to try. _It's probably past noon already, but I can try to get back to the docks… if, I can remember how to get back…_ Alicia began to panic again after she realized that they had taken a complex path to get to the store, and that there wasn't a very good chance that she could retrace her steps correctly before sundown.

She resumed breathing exercises more forcefully to calm down. But everything so far had just been a disaster. They were separated and even worse, by now they could be dead if they didn't find a good place to hide or didn't run fast enough.

Alicia forced herself to remain calm and turned to peak her head around the corner again. _No infected still, thank god._ She thought with slight relief. She then focused her view further past the general area and onto the horizon. Since she had to run up a hill to evade the infected she could see the dark blue of the ocean on the horizon from her higher ground. She knew that the docks where the boat would wait for three days, were obviously less inland and closer to the coast. But she couldn't afford attracting the attention of the horde while walking back to the coast, so she decided instead to go even further inland for a better view, hoping she would see the docks.

Alicia looked down at the holster for her hunting knife, strapped to her hip with a belt. She panicked a moment, seeing it empty, but then realized the knife was still in her hand. She put it back in the holster and let go of the handle with slight hesitation. Even when she let go her knuckles were still white from holding the knife so tightly. She didn't particularly like knives or weapons in general but the steel strapped to her hip could mean the difference of her living or dying if worst came to worst.

Alicia collected herself with a deep breath and exited the alley, and heading further inland, hoping to find a larger road or some kind of landmark that would tell her where she was. She walked a little faster than her normal pace, but she still looked carefully around every corner before crossing the entrances of alleyways. She had counted six blocks inland before she heard a rumbling noise, which she then identified as an engine. It sounded like it was even further inland, so she started walking faster and faster towards the noise until she was practically jogging. Even though it wasn't them, it might be someone who could be kind enough to give her a ride back to the docks, or maybe her brother jacked a car.

As she jogged she could hear the sound getting closer and closer, but she soon realized that it was the sound of a motorcycle engine and not a car. Still hoping its rider would be a good Samaritan, she broke into a run. She then saw the motorcycle cross the road she was on, and she started waving her hands and ran faster towards the bike. The rider noticed her and stopped. Alycia was on the verge of crying tears of joy as she ran as fast as she could towards the bike. She was about 30 feet away from the black Harley when the rider who was wearing a helmet which covered their entire face, pulled out a shotgun from some kind of bike holster, cocked it, pointed it towards Alicia and yelled stop.

Alicia froze, she took a moment to realize how a person who was alone, out in the open, and desperate for help might seem like a threat. She slowly rose her hands above her head and waited for the rider to react.

The rider didn't lower their shotgun. "have you been bit?" the rider, who was now identifiable as female, said with a thick, raspy, Australian accent.

"No," Alicia responded, trying to sound as sincere as possible. "I got separated from my group."

The Australian considered this for a moment before lowering her shotgun slightly. "Do you have a fever?"

"No, I haven't been bitten, or scratched or anything to get infected," Alicia answered, almost pleadingly.

"Well we don't have much time since the nasty buggers just love to follow the sound of my bike, so can I trust you not to kill me?" the Australian asked with slight humor but also slight seriousness.

"Yes, but only if I can trust you not to do the same," Alicia said, also with slight humor. Laughing shortly to try her best to cover up her fear.

"Hop on then," The Australian said, putting away her shot gun away and beckoning Alicia over to the bike with a quick tilt of her still-helmeted head.

Alicia, cautious of the stranger, walked slowly towards the bike, lowering her hands at the same speed.

"I will warn you though, this bike doesn't run the smoothest, and we'll need to go pretty fast if we want to lose the biters" The Australian said as Alicia swung a leg over the bike. Alicia was suddenly uncomfortably unsure where to put her hands.

"I don't bite… much, but you need to hold on if you want to stay on the bike when we're moving." The Australian instructed Alicia, who then slowly wrapped her arms around the biker's leather jacket, her hands resting right under the rider's sizable breasts.

"Right then, ready?" The Australian practically purred.

"Uh, yeah, let's go." Alicia said, and the biker revved the engine.

They took off at an alarmingly fast pace, and Alicia probably would've said something about it if she wasn't deterred by her fear of distracting the rider or even possibly angering her. They weaved through alley ways, and around infected, sometimes coming within less than ten feet of them, but they were moving way too fast to be threatened by them. They soon got into a less populated side of town and into what seemed like the millionaire neighborhood. They pulled up to a white colonial house with a grey roof and a very impenetrable gate topped with barbed wire surrounding the property. They stopped and the biker turned off the engine.

"Hop off first, let me park my bike and then we can talk." The Australian said with her thick accent.

Alicia did as she was told and watched as the Australian got a key out of her pocket to unlock the chains and heavy padlock holding the tall black gate closed. The biker opened the gate, pushed her bike in and gestured for Alicia to follow her in. Alicia did go in and took a look at the property. The black fence was tall and probably around ten feet, and it was topped with razor sharp barbed wire that seemed to be put on the fence by someone who clearly didn't have access to a welder, but instead… shoestrings? It was holding none the less however, and in the corner of the property was a ladder, propped up and tied on the inside of the fence, and it was the only region free of barbed wire. The house was also modified, the first floor windows were boarded up and the second floor windows were open. The roof had some kind of shack structure on top of it with a small roof and a camping chair under the tiny roof. The yard was empty, and the grass wasn't doing so well.

"Oi! Knife Girl! Are you coming in or what?" The biker yelled at Alicia from the front door. The bike was already parked near the porch and the biker was in the doorway. Alicia jogged over to the Australian but nearly stopped in her tracks when the biker took off her helmet. Beautiful, full, blond hair fell out of it and shaped an impossibly more beautiful face with striking blue eyes. A smirk soon appeared on the biker's face and Alicia put her head down for the rest of the way to the porch, hoping that the biker didn't catch her staring.

When Alicia made it to the porch she looked up at the biker. "My name is Alicia, not knife girl." She said, trying make her features stoic again.

"Well I didn't plan on calling you knife girl permanently." The biker shifted her helmet from her right to her left to extend out a hand which had a fingerless, black glove, that for some reason also had what seemed like finger bones sewn to the outside. "My name is Elyza, Elyza Lex."

Alicia took Elyza's hand and shook it firmly. Elyza took back her hand, narrowed her eyes, smiled and then turned around to walk into the mansion. Alicia followed her this time, trying to avoid another reminder by Elyza. The mansion led into a kind of marble-floored parlor which led into a spacy living room. The living room had knives, guns, and ammunition on nearly every surface.

"Sorry 'bout the mess, didn't exactly expect that I would be rescuing a girl and taking her back to my place, but you know, shit happens." Elyza said with a cheeky grin, while she tried to put up her weapons and clear at least one couch for actual sitting.

"Thanks again, for the rescue." Alicia said, smiling down at Elyza who had taken a seat on the cleared, black couch.

"It wasn't too big a deal, you know, just risking my life to help a complete stranger who was armed with biters trailing behind… but what can I say? I'm a sucker for beautiful damsels in distress." Elyza said with a smirk, then proceeding to pat the empty seat on the couch next to her, scooting over to make more room.

Alicia tried to hide her blush as she sat down next to the blond. She didn't expect a stranger to flirt with her, let alone a beautiful woman, but a sense of humor was a pleasant change to her usually sullen family atmosphere. She decided to change the subject before things got awkward.

"So I'm guessing that you're not the previous owner of this house?" Alicia said, taking in the high ceilings and fancy and stiff furniture.

"Well, I'll try my best not to be insulted but no, no I didn't live here before… before it all happened." Elyza said, slowly getting quieter, seemingly distracted by memories. "Cupcake where does your group hide out?"

"…" Alicia paused, unsure whether she should reveal the island. "Did you already forget my name?" Alicia said, with the intent to distract Elyza.

Elyza cracked a smile, "Of course not _Alicia,_ " Elyza purred. "I would never forget the name of a such a pretty gal."

Alicia couldn't help but blush again, she wasn't foreign to flirting, especially after dating Matt but she didn't have any romantic experience with the same sex. It was unexpected, but she realized that it wasn't entirely unwanted either. But that's probably normal, who wouldn't want to be called pretty… right?

Elyza paused. "You never answered my question." Elyza said with suspicion, before relaxing; realizing why. "Look, if you think I want to raid or live in whatever shack you and your group have then rest assured I don't. I spent too much time clearing out this area of biters to want to relocate anywhere else."

"I can't say exactly because my group would kill me for it but we meet up at the docks." Alicia admitted, hoping that the Australian would hold her word if she ended up seeing the boat.

Elyza snapped Alicia out of her thought process by getting up off the couch and talking while she walked towards a wardrobe against a wall near the couch. "It's going to be dark soon and I don't ride at night, a little too unpredictable for my taste but maybe I can get you to the docks in the morning, but the thing is I used quite a bit of my gas going out on that supply run." Elyza said, her smile gone. "But maybe we can find a gallon or two on the way there."

"That would be great… thanks." Alicia said sincerely.

Elyza just smiled in response and turned to open the dresser, putting her helmet in and unzipping her leather jacket about three inches or so, stopping, then zipping it back up.

"Are you hungry? I don't have much but I can make us some spaghetti." Elyza called over to Alicia in a voice of Australian velvet.

Alicia sighed, happy for a change in conversation, but also happy for food in general, her stomach had started to ache after getting away from the infected in the store. "Yeah, spaghetti sounds great." Alicia yelled back, getting up with the intention of helping to make the meal.

* * *

When they had finished making the meal they had sat down at the much too large dinner table, Elyza at the end and Alicia to her right. Alicia wondered in silence whether sitting at such a big table alone would make you lonely. Elyza didn't seem to mind the silence, much too preoccupied with her spaghetti, which they made on a gas stove, and Alicia had never used a gas stove before, her family usually ate prepackaged goods rather than meals. Alicia swallowed hard at the thought of where her family might be, whether they were afraid, cold, or even dead. Before she knew it tears had sprung to her eyes.

"Hey, Alicia, hey, it's all gonna be ok… we'll find them in the morning." Elyza said reassuringly, reaching out to hold Alicia's shoulder. This was the second time Alicia had been emotional in front of Elyza, the first being when she told Elyza what had happened at the store and how they had gotten separated, and Elyza tried her best to comfort her then too.

Alicia laughed as she realized something. Elyza narrowed her eyes and tilted her head. "What're you laughing at?" Elyza asked suspiciously.

"I just think it's funny how you only use my real name when I'm sad. All the other times you either flirt or call me some type of food." Alicia said, laughing as Elyza rolled her eyes.

Elyza smiled and then her smirk turned dark. "Maybe that's because I think you would be rather tasty." Elyza purred and Alicia stopped laughing immediately. It wasn't the first innuendo she had heard from the blond but definitely the most direct so far. The color drained from Alicia's face as Elyza leaned closer to speak in Alicia's right ear.

Elyza's breath tickled her ear as she spoke. "I just think it's funny how flustered you get when I flirt with you." Elyza said, leaning back and laughing as the color slowly returned to Alicia's face in a harsh blush.

Alicia swallowed again and stood up with her plate, and walked to put it in the sink. Elyza finished quickly and did the same. Elyza started walking up the stairs and Alicia followed without a word.

Alicia's breathing and heartrate quickened when she realized that Elyza was leading her to the bedroom, she had no idea whether she expected her to sleep in another room or to sleep beside her. It wouldn't be a big deal; they were both girls but the way that Elyza loved to flirt with her she wondered whether her sexuality would affect her decision. She didn't think she would mind sleeping next to her but it was up to her whether it was appropriate or not.

Elyza opened the door and walked into the master bedroom, which, like the house was large with high ceilings. The bed was in the middle, pressed up against the back wall with a heavy black blanket, black sheets and a tall headboard, with the buttoned fabric on the headboard, similarly black.

Alicia let her hand slide over the silky smooth blanket on the bed while she watched Elyza paw through a drawer.

"What are you looking for?" Alicia asked, allowing herself to lean against bed post.

"Some candles, it's getting kind of dark in here." Elyza commented, looking around the indeed dark room. Alicia however perked up.

"You have candles here?" She asked excitedly.

"Yeah, I found some in another house and decided to bring them back for the blackouts." Elyza explained as she brought out three candles and a lighter.

"Ca-, Can I light them?" Alicia asked, her eyes were locked on the candles.

Elyza scrunched her eyebrows together to give Alicia a strange look, but handed her the candles none the less. "Yeah, take 'em pyro."

Alicia ignored the comment and set up the candles on a nightstand, religiously lighting them one by one. She stared at the lighted candles for several moments, watching the way the flames danced and the wax melted.

"Are you ok over there? Did I find a fetish or something?" Elyza asked, sounding genuinely concerned for Alicia's mental health but also excited at the aspect of finding a kink.

"No. _Elyza._ I just really like candles… When I was eight, if I had my way, my room would've had candles on _any_ place that would hold one… but my mom cut me off at forty-three, and then withheld my candle privileges." Alicia said quietly, not taking her eyes off the flames.

"Well if you're done being weird then maybe you might want to consider sleeping, we took quite a while getting home and then cooking dinner. It's probably already past eight o'clock." Elyza said, finishing off her sentence with a yawn. "Plus we have your family to find in the morning."

"So, where should I sleep, because if you have an extra blanket then I wouldn't mind sleeping on the floor, with the size of my family it wouldn't be the first time." Alicia said, hoping that Elyza wouldn't fight to sleep on the floor instead.

"No, that's nonsense, this bed is huge, probably a king size actually…" She trailed off, then snapped her head back up at Alicia, realizing the dilemma. "Uh, that is, uh, if you feel comfortable, I mean I would totally understand why you might be uncomfortable, I mean it wouldn't be the first time that a girl felt uncomfortable, I can be a bit… forward I suppose." Elyza rambled, and Alicia smiled, finding it endearing of her.

"Elyza, stop, you're right, the bed is plenty big. And as far as your sexuality goes I could care less… I mean, have you felt these sheets?" Alicia enthused to a much relieved Elyza, while stroking the sheets again.

"Yeah, they're pretty sweet, but wait 'till you feel the mattress." Elyza bragged.

"Hey, I don't much like sleeping in jeans, so I am gonna change into my jam-jams first. I have an extra pair if you want." Elyza offered, despite the ironic fact that she would have to sleep in her leather jacket. Alicia was confused as to what the difference was but when she asked Elyza just used more innuendo, saying she just "liked leather" in the most sexually charged voice yet.

Alicia was elated that she would offer but she could survive one night in a tank top and jeans, she did it before and she got pretty used to it by now. "No, but thanks for the offer of your," Alicia laughed at the word, "Jam-jams."

"It's what we say in Australia," Elyza defended tiredly, going into the bathroom with her 'jam-jams' to change. She closed the door behind her and Alicia took the opportunity to take off her windbreaker, set it on the bed and stretch her tired muscles a little.

"Why did you move to L.A.? It's quite a distance from down under don't you think?" Alicia inquired teasingly.

Elyza yelled through the door, "You'll have to get me drunk to answer that one, it's pretty personal."

"Oh, sorry." Alicia yelled back. Elyza stepped out of the bathroom in her leather jacket and sweatpants that hung low on her hips, exposing just a tiny bit of belly and hip bone.

"Nah, it's alright, you couldn't've known." She said nonchalantly, but Alicia could see a tiny bit of pain in her deceiving eyes. "So, which side do you prefer?"

"Uh, I mean, I would usually be nice and say it doesn't matter but the candles are taking precedence over my manners." Alicia said with a smile, gesturing towards the right side of the bed where the candles were still burning healthily.

"You have to blow them out Alicia, I won't sleep knowing that there's an open flame in my house." Elyza argued, getting into the bed.

"but they're not even very big and nowhere near anything flammable." Alicia whined, it was amazing how comfortable she felt with this stranger who she couldn't consider a stranger anymore, but a friend.

"Except for our bed!" Elyza countered, but Alicia just crossed her arms. Elyza sighed deeply and looked at Alicia with a face of pure determination. "Listen up buttercup, if you won't blow them out I will." Elyza threatened and Alicia reacted with a face of horror.

"You wouldn't." Alicia accused.

Elyza got closer, "Watch me." Elyza then, instead of going around the bed to get to Alicia's side with the candles, -like Alicia expected- leaned over Alicia completely, in one smooth movement, and pinned Alicia's body down with her own, and used her hands to pin down Alicia's. And before Alicia could react, with a quick breath the light from the room was gone. Elyza then rolled back over to her side of the bed, releasing the girl from her grasp, and Alicia was glad that the light was out so Elyza couldn't have seen her blushing profusely as she was now from the unexpected contact. Honestly it had felt exhilarating and as much as she wanted to deny it there was a part of her that wanted Elyza to do it again.

"You're a terrible person." Alicia mumbled out finally, hoping that Elyza would think she was quiet because she was mourning the candle.

"And you have to realize it was for your own good, I think I would agree with your mother that you have a problem, a strange addiction but an addiction nonetheless." Elyza countered with recent victory evident in her cheery voice. "But you have to admit, I really threw you for a loop." Elyza bragged, knowing that Alicia was probably blushing.

Alicia didn't answer, instead she analyzed the entire encounter and her questionable reaction to it. If Elyza had given her any time to react then there was a part of her that would've tried to hold her there, maybe even kiss her. It could've meant that she was just too competitive but a part of her recognized these exhilarating feelings from dating Matt. But this was much, much stronger. And it scared her.

Alicia turned her head to try to see Elyza, careful not to make any noise. Elyza had clearly taken her silence as surrender because she could see the faint outline of a chest, rising and falling slowly, and peacefully. Alicia turned her body and watched Elyza breathe until she herself fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

* * *

Alicia was woken from her deep sleep only by the sound of movement and sunlight filtering through her eyelids. She panicked for a moment, before she remembered why she was in a stranger's bed. She looked around and found the source of the movement, it was Elyza, pacing around the room and gathering certain items off of shelves and out of closets before stuffing them in grey duffle bag. As well as items that belonged to Alicia herself. Alicia smiled softly, enjoying the view and smiling deeper whenever Elyza would curse about not being able to find an item, quietly, she noted, Elyza cursed quietly, probably to not wake her up.

"Good morning," Alicia said finally, stretching and yawning.

"Hey! You're up, great, so I checked the amount of gas we have and it's not enough to last us all the way back to the docks so we might have to spend a night in an abandoned apartment or something." Elyza listed off feverishly, still pacing the room.

Alicia smiled at the sight of Elyza stressed, but she frowned slightly. "Elyza?" She queried softly.

"Yeah sexy?" Elyza said with a bright, and beautiful smile while zipping up her leather jacket from halfway open to all-the-way closed. Alicia was saddened by this action, one, because she knew that Elyza must already be overheating in that thing and two, because it meant the end of Alicia being able to see any cleavage. Not that she wanted to admit that she did miss it… at all. But as soon as Elyza saw the frown on Alicia's face she paused, waiting for Alicia's response.

"Why… why are you doing this? I'm sure you have better things to do than rescuing girls from alleyways." Alicia tried to laugh but the atmosphere was much too sober. "But seriously what's in it for you?"

Elyza sighed, and leaned against a wall before meeting Alicia's piercing and gorgeous eyes. "Honestly?" Elyza asked before sighing again, looking down at the floor. "I'm not sure." That wasn't completely a lie. The girl was definitely worth every second you could see of her but usually Elyza needed more than just a pretty face, rocking body, beautiful hair, gorgeous eyes- the point was that this wasn't normal. And Elyza honestly had no idea what drew her to the girl other than her looks. It was almost a sense of Déjà vu, but not that she had seen her before. That she had loved her before. This scared Elyza, because she had never fallen for someone this intensely, she had crushed, lusted, and for a very brief and misguided time, stalked. But this was altogether completely different.

That was an answer that completely threw Alicia off. This didn't help answer any questions, only raised more.

"I'm not sure why, but what I do know is that I want to do this. But you definitely have my word that there aren't any ulterior motives at play here." Elyza deadpans, meeting Alicia's gaze, but it was Alicia that had to look away, Elyza's expression was much too sober and even pained looking. "Anyways, I can get you to the dock and then I'll be out of your hair."

"Out of my hair?" Alicia laughs, " _You're_ the one risking everything and _I'm_ the one who owes you _everything_."

Elyza smiles at this, before chucking the duffle bag towards Alicia. "Pack whatever else you need for the trip and whatever you want to take with you to the dock." Elyza instructed, with a newfound pep in her step. "And yes, you can take the candles."

Alicia wasn't going to ask her that, not right away anyway, but she packed her candles nonetheless and put her jacket back on.

She then got out of the bed and followed Elyza downstairs, handing her the bag. Elyza got the bike helmet from the shelf and handed it to Alicia. "Don't argue, just put it on, make sure you hold on and when we get on foot you need to be quiet, follow my movements and stay close, whatever you do don't wander off." Elyza rambled off. Elyza had never felt this kind of need to protect before. She decided to try her best to ignore the frighteningly new emotions coursing through her and focus on helping the girl. After all, Alicia belonged with her family, and as much as Elyza hated it, that didn't include her. Not in the slightest.

Alicia nodded, taking in all of this information as she pulled on the matte black bike helmet and tightened it. She lifted the visor so Elyza could see her face, but mostly so she could see Elyza's better.

Elyza stepped out of the house, and Alicia followed right behind her. Elyza stopped, unzipped the duffle bag and pulled out a 9mm Smith and Wesson handgun. Elyza loaded it, cocked it and offered it to Alicia. Alicia was hesitant to make a move towards the gun, she didn't feel entirely safe around guns, plus she had very little experience with them. Elyza picked up on this hesitation and looked into Alicia's eyes.

"I only do this in case of emergency, if you do shoot this you have to understand that they will come. But if we get in a bind I want to know that you have a little more protection than that knife, however big it may be." Elyza said, her expression soft and honest. Elyza offered the gun again and Alicia took it, it was heavier than she expected but not too heavy. Elyza got behind her to explain how to work it.

"You probably won't need to use it, but just in case we do, the safety is there, turn it off and on." Elyza instructed and Alicia quickly understood how it worked. "Good, make sure that you use both hands because it gives off more kick than you would expect, especially considering you don't have much experience." Elyza said into her ear, using both her hands to hold both of Alicia's to the gun to show proper hand position. But Alicia found it hard to concentrate with Elyza's body pressed against her back. "when you shoot, just aim down the barrel and remember, aim for the head or they won't drop. Got it?" Elyza asked, releasing her hold on the girl and taking a few steps back.

Alicia was admittedly disappointed that the lessons ended so soon but she nodded nonetheless. She looked deeply into the eyes of a smiling blond and thought for a second that Elyza might try to kiss her, but Elyza just cleared her throat loudly instead.

Elyza then started walking towards the bike, talking over her shoulder along the way, hands stuffed into her leather jacket's pockets. "Keep the safety on when we ride but keep the gun in your hand, and keep it aimed at the ground unless I say otherwise. Got it?"

"Yeah," Alicia said as she watched Elyza unlock the gate and bring the bike out front. She then went through the gate and waited for Elyza to finish locking up the gate before she hopped on the bike behind Elyza, using one hand to hold onto Elyza and the other holding the gun pointed towards the ground like she was instructed to.

"Ready?" Elyza asked with a cheeky grin, eager to rev up her beloved matte black 48 Harley.

Alicia smirked back, "Yeah, let's go."

* * *

Elyza started the bike and took off at a slower pace than usual, careful to make sure that Alicia didn't fall off with just one hand but to her delight, Alicia just held on tighter and Elyza felt comfortable enough to resume her high speeds. She could feel her blond hair waving wildly in the wind, and -whether it be to avoid her mane, or to get a better look- Alicia's helmeted chin rested on Elyza's right shoulder. Elyza smiled, trying her best to remember this moment, riding at high speeds, watching the sun get higher in the sky through her aviator sunglasses and a beautiful girl pressed against her back. She would've prefered her to be pressed against her front but beggars can't be choosers.

She didn't know about this one though, usually she would get a gut instinct to whether they were gay or straight but with this one she had gotten a straight vibe but the girl's behavior begged to differ. In less than 24 hours there were multiple moments in which a kiss wouldn't have be unexpected. But as forward as she could be, Elyza was always respectful first, making sure that the girls were always comfortable with what was happening before it happened. That lesson on the porch almost led to a kiss but Elyza decided to cop out to gather more intel first, as hot as teaching Alicia to hold a gun was, their _thing_ whatever it was, would have to wait.

As confusing as Elyza's feelings were, Alicia was just as confused. If someone would've asked her what her sexuality was, three days ago, she would've said straight without the slightest hesitation other than the expected 'why the hell would you be asking me this isn't it obvious' type of hesitation. Now? She wasn't so sure. She would find herself trying to steal glances at the blond Australian beauty -her cleavage, ass, muscle outline, even collar bones- like some kind of fifteen-year-old sexually depraved boy. That and she would have this weird voice in the back of her head screaming at her to lean in and kiss her if Elyza got close. Luckily she could ignore it or muffle it usually but it had been becoming louder and louder. Like she was possessed by some kind of horny, and very gay demon. Possibly born in the essence of Elyza herself.

Elyza herself pondered whether this strange attraction could be just a _very_ strong case of classic lust. She hadn't gotten any in a few months, not that she wouldn't be able to, but the human population that she was willing to bang got smaller and smaller by the day, due to the fact that she wasn't desperate enough to hump a biter, an undead one anyway.

Elyza refocused on the road ahead, seeing that they were beginning to get into the more populated areas, which meant more walkers, and higher risk. She slowed down to limit her noise output and to be warier of her surroundings. As soon as they saw their first walker she felt the arm around her tighten a little more, Elyza looked down to see that the hand that was holding the gun was shaking slightly, this girl was not comfortable around those things at all. She felt a pang of empathy and remembered when she herself had found herself terrified of them, but that feeling soon passed for her after killing so many. But for the girl's sake she hoped that she _wouldn't_ have to get used to it, honestly _no one_ should have to.

She pulled up to a street with several cars that seemed relatively untouched and apartments that weren't wrecked in riots or fires. She looked down at her tank meter and decided at the meter being as low as it was, that they would need to get more gas pretty soon or abandon the bike. Elyza pulled up to an empty portion of the street and killed the engine, looking around before making any movements to get off the bike. When she saw that the coast was clear she got off and helped Alicia to get off the bike as well. Elyza felt her heartbeat quicken just by holding the girl's hand to help her off and mentally chastised herself for somehow allowing this girl to have that much of an effect over her.

Alicia took off her helmet and Elyza couldn't help but smile at Alicia's gently frazzled hair, even though it a strange way it only made her look even hotter. Alicia frowned, before realizing what it was and then proceeded to straighten out her hair with the bike's tiny mirror as Elyza scoped the place out for the second time, and it was still clear. She then took the duffle bag from Alicia and put on her own shoulder.

"We need to get gas to get to the coast, so we have to siphon off from some of these cars and- oh holy fucking shit." Elyza said, her jaw dropping as she saw in the distance an entire horde heading for their direction, the bike had that effect but she had hoped that she could get gas and drive off in time to avoid them but that didn't seem like a reasonable option anymore. "God fucking damn it, we need to take shelter now." Elyza said to a terrified looking Alicia. The horde was too far away for her to notice before, about a thousand meters off now, but even though those fuckers were slow as a motherfucking turtle without legs they still managed to creep up on you if you weren't careful. With her precious cargo -Alicia- she wasn't going to risk anything.

Elyza ran up to an apartment door, which was thankfully unlocked and went through it, room by room to make sure it was empty, which it was, cleaned out of all supplies but still at least it was safe. Elyza dropped the duffle bag off on the floor and made sure that all of the doors were locked, the windows also thankfully had bars on them just in case that the horde tracked them to the apartment. Elyza looked out at the slowly approaching horde which by some small miracle had only come for the sound of her bike, and not because they saw the two women.

Elyza closed the window curtains and walked over to Alicia who seemed to be ok but pretty emotionally overwhelmed.

"What's the plan?" Alicia asked with a deep breath.

"We wait them out, wait for them to disperse and get gas for the bike or start walking towards the docks on foot. Either way, it probably involves a sleepover because those things just love to stick around for several hours." Elyza said unsmiling.

"Alright, that seems reasonable." Alicia said slowly, seemingly trying to calm herself down more than anything else.

Elyza looked out the window, careful to do it slowly and wary of biters seeing her. She looked at the sun and guessed that it was probably eleven already because they drove slower to be careful of biters on their way here. Elyza made it her mission to distract Alicia from the monsters outside, as a way to protect her from further anxiety, making the girl uncomfortable always seemed to work as the best distraction with this one. She joined Alicia on the couch that Alicia had apparently managed to find.

Elyza fake yawned, stretching her hands out to where her right arm rested behind Alicia's head, who seemed to notice but didn't mention it. "So." Elyza drawled slowly, making sure that Alicia looked up at her patented impassioned, hungry stare before continuing. "All this time and nothing to… do." Elyza drawled out, glancing at Alicia's plump lips and spreading her own into stunning smile.

Alicia seemed to laugh and blush at this cheesy line which only made Elyza smile wider. Alicia then shifted to better face Elyza, "Hmmm, are you sure that there's absolutely _nothing_ we can do to entertain ourselves?" Alicia drawled back with even more sexual tension packed into the line. It left Elyza absolutely speechless. If she had any less self-control then she would've taken the girl right there, so she decided to not move a muscle. To avoid provoking herself into doing anything stupid and rash.

Alicia laughed. "hmmm, someone's quiet, seems like I beat _someone_ at their own game huh Elyza?" Alicia said teasingly and Elyza's face dropped, realizing she had been played.

"Very funny, but I'm warning you, you do that again and I will take away your ability to speak." Elyza threatened sexually with hungry, smiling eyes.

Alicia nodded with a smile, not wanting to provoke the Australian beauty any further. "Oh, I know, let's play a game."

"A game? Well I can think of lots of games we can play, but, I'm not sure it's a good idea for you to moan with the biters right outside." Elyza said lazily with an eyebrow and the corner of her mouth raised.

"Ha-Ha, very funny." Alicia said, her voice dripping with sarcasm before continuing. "I was thinking maybe that, we would each have seven questions that we can ask each other and you can only pass on one of them, and you can choose whichever question you wish to pass on." Alicia explained.

"Alright then, you can ask the first question." Elyza said, intrigued by the game and whatever Alicia was planning.

"Why did you move to L.A.?" Alicia asked, with a devilish grin.

"Wow, just wow, I told you that was personal and that's the very first question!" Elyza laughed good-naturedly. "But considering that's the first question, I'm afraid of the others so I guess it shall be the truth from me."

"I moved to L.A. to get away from my family, because I had recently come out and they reacted badly, I don't want to get too deep into the details but it was bad enough for me to cross an ocean to live alone." Elyza said, trying to act as if what she said didn't hold any meaning. Even though to her it really did.

"I see." Alicia said with understanding and felt kind of bad to force her to answer such a personal question. But if she was right then Elyza would feel no shame in asking questions that were just as personal. "Your turn."

"Ok, let me think." Elyza said rubbing her hands together and laughing evilly. "When did you kill your first biter?" Elyza asked.

Alicia shifted in her seat before answering softly. "Never."

"Never! How did you manage to survive without ever having to kill one?!" Elyza enthused unconsciously scooting closer in her excitement.

"That's another question Elyza, you will have to wait." Alicia teased, quite pleased with her own game. "It's my second question now."

Alicia paused thinking of what to ask. "You seem older than me but how old are you?"

Elyza smiled. "That's a lame question but I'm 21… and even though it's a waste of a perfectly good sexual question, how old are you?"

"I am 17 years old, turning 18 in the next month." Alicia answered, bringing her feet onto the couch and resting her head on her knees.

"Convenient, don't you think?" Elyza teased. "It's your turn darling, make it good."

"Why do you always make sexual comments? Of all the things to do in the apocalypse?" Alicia asked, guessing that it was a way of coping somehow.

Elyza sighed, "I dunno, I must just have a dirty mind and unfiltered mouth. My mum always would punish me every time that I would let a curse slip or said anything remotely sexual. I would have to hide that part of me, as well as my sexuality and as soon as I came here I promised never to filter myself for anyone."

"Deep. Your turn." Alicia said, hoping to lighten the mood.

Elyza laughed and took a moment to think before an evil smile graced her face. "Top or bottom?" She said and laughed, eagerly awaiting Alicia's answer.

"What does that mean?" Alicia said, crinkling up her nose.

"Ugh, must you be so bland! It's referring to the bedroom." Elyza explained.

Alicia was still slightly confused, until she realized that Elyza was probably talking about bunk beds, a strange question but a valid one. "Oh! Top for sure, Bottom just makes me feel like I could get crushed." Alicia answered.

Elyza's mouth just hung open. She had no idea what to do with that information. She felt bad for Alicia and whatever terrible and most likely heterosexual encounter would push her to have those fears. "Ok then, good to know." Elyza answered awkwardly, still shocked at the answer.

"My turn. What is your biggest fear?" Alicia asked.

"Well I'm not afraid of much at all, not even insects or reptiles, or even death, but I am afraid of death in the people I love. So I think my greatest fear would have to be the love of my life dying in my arms." Elyza answered solemnly, seemingly depressed at the thought. Elyza felt another wave of that Déjà vu roll over her and an image popped into her mind. It felt like a memory but she didn't recognize it. It was gone as soon as it had come and the only thing she remembered from it was furs, a strangely thick black liquid soaking the soft furs and an overwhelming sense of loss and pure pain.

"Why do you have to get so deep with these things Elyza this is supposed to be a fun game!" Alicia complained, knocking Elyza out of her thoughts.

"Alright! Alright! Sorry ok? My turn." Elyza stopped to think of her next question. "Are you truly straight or do you think you have some kind of attraction towards the same sex?" Elyza asked, loving the way that Alicia's face drained of color.

"I um, I pass on that one." Alicia answered quickly, hoping that Elyza would drop it. Elyza picked up on Alicia's reaction and slightly regretted asking the poor girl so soon. She knew just as much as anyone how much it sucked to be in the closet. She cursed herself internally for being so stupid as to ask so soon.

"Why do you wear that damn jacket all the time like a damn never-nude?!" Alicia asked, still frustrated by Elyza's audacity to ask that previous question.

"I pass." Elyza said immediately, trying to drain her features of any emotion.

"No, seriously why?" Alicia asked, with frustration. "Are you hiding something?" She reached to unzip the jacket but Elyza scooted out of reach.

"Damn it Alycia, if you undress me I will do you the same favor! Don't test me!" Elyza threatened, hoping that it would deter the girl. It was an empty threat but if Alicia got aggressive, Elyza wasn't sure she would be able to stop herself in the heat of the moment.

"Elyza stop it with the innuendo and the comments!" Alicia yelled at the Australian, completely done with the whole situation.

"Alicia, you're only mad because of the question I asked, just calm down." Elyza said, trying to keep calm herself.

"No I'm not!" Alicia said, absolutely enraged by the blond. "Just because you're a horny lesbian doesn't mean everyone else around you is too! Stop fucking daydreaming!"

She crossed the line, Alicia knew it, Elyza knew it and it was just a mistake that made the whole room silent for several tense seconds. Elyza was the first to speak, "I'm sorry, alright? I'm sorry."

Alicia knew that she should've been the one apologizing, that Elyza had every right to ask her that question. And overreacting in this way was doing her zero favors if she wanted to hide it. But that didn't mean that she was ready to admit it. That's why she was mad, because the question shoved an issue in her face that she wasn't ready to address. "No, I'm sorry, for snapping. But, if you tell me why you wear that jacket all the time, maybe I might want to open up a little bit." Alicia offered. She needed to talk about it to someone and she also felt like she needed to know why she wore that damn leather jacket all the time.

"Cupcake I don't think I want to do that right now; I just can't tell you ok?" Elyza pleaded, and she never pleaded either, with anyone. She definitely wanted the girl to open up about her feelings but she couldn't risk it at the cost of revealing her secret.

The rest of the evening was sitting, laying and shuffling around the house by the two girls, ever so often looking through the windows, and every time they checked there were still walkers. They inspected the apartment a little closer and found it was absolutely barren. There were no fixtures on the walls, no decorations, very few pieces of furniture including only one twin sized bed with no blankets. They also had avoided any form of conversation since their fight.

In addition to that, the apartment was drafty as hell, Elyza seemed to get along fine with that damn jacket but Alicia found herself shivering more than once. When it came time to eat and go to sleep they wordlessly took several food items out of the duffle and ate beside each other silently on the couch. They were both too tired to argue about whether they should both sleep on the bed and instead they just did. But it was a little harder no to touch each other considering they were both on the tiny twin bed. They decided to lay facing away from each other, their shoulder blades and butts couldn't help but touch due to the limited space.

Alicia tried to sleep but the apartment was still drafty, and if possible even draftier than before as the sun fell. She started shivering quite quickly, and she wasn't the only one that knew it. Elyza could feel her tiny shiver fits against her back and immediately felt sorry for the girl. She had on her jacket so the temperature wasn't a problem, but as much as she couldn't risk revealing her secret she couldn't risk the girl getting no sleep either. At least, not in this way. She decided to try to see if she would cuddle first, so she wouldn't have to take off her jacket.

"Hey, you seem cold and I can hold you to try to warm you up if you w-." Elyza was cut off by Alicia's scathing tone.

"Elyza for god's sake, now is not the time for you to be trying to get into my pants." Alicia said.

"That's not- I was trying to- ugh! God damn you Alicia I was trying to be nice!" Elyza tried to defend herself. "I thought it was worth a shot to ask so I wouldn't have to take of my jacket." Elyza said as she started unzipping her jacket and worming her way out of it.

Alicia turned and gasped at what she saw by the tiny amount of light in the room. There were scars, marks, bite marks, up and down Elyza's back that was visible in through the arm holes in her white tank top. She didn't say a thing, instead turning her body and tentatively reaching out to touch them. When she did Elyza's back muscles flinched a bit before relaxing, allowing her to trace the marks. Without thinking she pushed up the hem of Elyza's shirt up to the back of her neck to where she could see all of Elyza's back except for the small portion which was covered by the back strap and clasp of Elyza's black bra. Elyza granted Alicia's curiosity and pulled off the tank top altogether, tossing it onto the floor. There must have been at least ten, maybe more. And Alicia took the time to trace and count them all. Twelve, twelve clear bite marks and a few other incoherent scratches.

"Are you going to take the jacket?" Elyza offered. And Alicia took the jacket, put it on and resumed tracing the scars, some deep, and others just faint lines. They were all completely healed and didn't seem recent at all. Alicia finally found something to say.

"How?" She asked, knowing she wouldn't have to elaborate herself.

"A horde, a couple months ago they sneaked up on me while I was getting supplies and they managed to get me to the ground and attack me before I could get away from them. And when I got home I just treated my wounds and waited to die. But it didn't happen. I haven't been bit since but I think that I may be immune, not that I want to test it anytime soon." Elyza explained quietly, relaxed only by Alicia's warm breath and fingers gracing her back.

Before she had a chance to second-guess herself Alicia gently kissed a particularly deep scar near Elyza's shoulder blade and reached her arms around the blond Australian and hugged her tight. "That must've been scary." Alicia said slowly, holding on tight and cursing her inability to come up with anything more profound.

"Yeah, it was." Elyza said quietly, glad that Alicia wasn't able to see her pain stricken face. Alicia let go of Elyza only so she could scoot closer to the blond and lean her face against Elyza's upper back, continuing to trace the scars. Some of them looked painful, and deep, holding the memory of each individual tooth within Elyza's skin. Others were only grazes, or scratches, found only under a gentle touch and not so easily seen as they were felt. Alicia hadn't realized she was crying against Elyza's still nearly bare back until she had felt the hot droplets fall down her face and even onto Elyza's back.

That was it for Elyza, she had tried to keep her emotions stable as the memories of each scar came flooding back, the pain, the tearing, the sound of her own inhuman scream. But as soon as she realized that Alicia was crying, it was the straw that broke the camel's back. Never in her life had she loved anyone more than how she loved Alicia in this moment. She herself started to sob nearly silently. Feeling Alicia caress with more pressure to calm her as a reaction and worked to help her regain her emotions. She soon stopped crying under Alicia's soothing touch and Alicia followed in suit. They both fell asleep soon after, their faces coated with their salty tears but their sleep was peaceful; and filled with sweet memories that did not belong to them.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey, I hope you guys are enjoying reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. Please leave a review, tell me what you're thinking, feeling, or wanting. Thank you for all of the reads so far, And normally I would update faster than this, I just didn't realize so many people had already read it. Much love to you all.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

* * *

They woke up as the sunlight filtered into the small room through the cracks in the boarded up window. Alicia was the first to come to. She felt the sunlight on her eyelids and turned her head slightly to avoid the intruding beams of light. She let out a small groan and inhaled deeply. She suddenly smelt the undeniable scent that was Elyza and realized without opening her eyes that she was still wearing her leather jacket. She brought up her hand to pull the collar up to her nose and inhaled deeply once again into the soft interior fabric. The scent beyond the smell of the leather itself was crisp, and fresh but it also had scents of what smelled like cedar and sandalwood and hints of lavender. The scent was delicious and intoxicating. Alicia could definitely get used to smelling Elyza's scent, whether it be in a jacket or on her skin. It immediately made her want to wrap her arms around the blond who was still wearing that black bra and continue to drink in her scent directly from her skin but that would be out of the question. if they wanted to keep just being gals who were pals, then that feeling would have to be squashed, so Alicia did just that, contenting herself with just the jacket instead of the Australian's surprisingly fragrant skin.

Elyza stirred sometime later, she woke partly because the sun was in her eyes and partly because she kept hearing someone inhale so deeply that she thought they might be having trouble breathing. She opened her eyes and sighed softly in relief to see that it was just Alicia breathing deeply into the collar of her leather jacket. She wanted to stay there and just watch the girl sleep blissfully forever. But they had places to go, and she left the thought at that. Not wanting to think about how Alicia would have to part ways with her as soon as she got reunited with her people. Not wanting the painful reminder that Elyza was not Alicia's people.

Elyza stirred, sat up and faced away from Alicia on the bed with her legs bent over the side of the bed, stretching up her arms towards the ceiling and yawning while she did so. Alicia watched her do this through lazy eyes with her chin propped up on her hand. Making sure that the jacket's collar was still well within smelling distance. Elyza then reluctantly got off the bed, yanked on her white tank top that she had took off for Alicia the night before, slightly depressed by the fact that she had previously expected that if she took off any clothing for Alicia then it would lead to something more… thrilling, than just sleeping beside one another. Not that she was complaining in any way, it was nice to wake up beside Alicia, no matter the circumstances. She started tying on her boots, looking at Alicia while she did so. Alicia's hair was a mess, but her face was of pure beauty. She also had that facial expression that's usually worn in the morning after, that feeling like _"yeah, I'm glad I fucked you last night,_ " And even though they did nothing of the sort the night before, Elyza still enjoyed that hazy, drunk in love look upon the young brunette's face.

"Good morning." Elyza said finally, with a stunning smile on her face as she laced up her other boot.

"Morning." Alicia said back calmly, snuggling back into the leather jacket and hiding her face from the assaulting rays of sun.

"When you're done with it I'm going to need my jacket back sweetheart." Elyza said teasingly as she finished up tying the knots on her boots. The truth is that prying that jacket away from Alicia, given the fact that it seemed to make Alicia quite content, was the last thing she wanted to do. But she also loved teasing the girl.

"Give me a couple more minutes to sleep." Alicia said, her voice muffled slightly by the leather collar.

"Alright, fine." Elyza agreed, secretly craving those extra minutes to watch the little angel sleep with, and obsess over her jacket. She tried to make herself seem busy with packing up their stuff into their duffle bag but really she was just trying to make packing up noises while watching the girl sleep deep and peacefully. After about five minutes though she did sit back on the bed and did her best to lovingly prod Alicia awake. Alicia did wake this time, stretching and yawning as Elyza had done before. But there was something about watching Alicia sleep, yawn and stretch that made Elyza's heart warm at the sight. It was ridiculous how beautiful one girl could look without even trying. " _That's love, bitch_ " a part of Elyza's mind whispered to her, but she ignored it. Elyza was absolutely convinced that love and empathy died with the rest of the world. All that was left in this world were survival instincts, greed, and occasionally lust. But no love.

"So we have to either get gas in the bike and ride down to the docks or walk there. If we take the bike its faster but if we walk we wouldn't risk drawing as much attention. Plus, I know that the coast is pretty close to where we are now." Elyza said, clearly favoring that they just go over to the docks on foot. And Alicia would have to agree, it seemed like a safer bet. Alicia reluctantly took off the leather jacket and gave it back to Elyza who put it on without hesitation.

"Alright then we'll walk there. Are there any infected on the street?" Alicia asked, walking over and trying to see through the window.

Elyza took a peak and the street seemed devoid of life, undead or otherwise. "I don't think so; I think we should head out." Elyza said, still scanning the street before turning and heading out the room. Elyza unzipped the duffle and gave Alicia her knife and the same gun she was given earlier. Elyza pulled out a handgun and screwed on a silencer as well as clipped a machete to her hip. Alicia was dumbfounded by how much weaponry Elyza found it necessary to carry with her. Elyza clearly had more than just those deadly weapons in that duffle bag of death. Honestly, Alicia wouldn't have been surprised if she had packed a rocket launcher next to her candles. But Alicia wisely didn't comment.

Elyza then walked towards the front door, made a motion for Alicia to keep quiet, soundlessly unlocked the door and opened it just enough for her face before opening it further and letting Alicia through. Elyza stepped onto the street with her body tense, and her gun pointed to the ground but absolutely ready shoot if necessary.

Elyza walked close to Alicia for protection but leaned in closer to whisper in her ear, even though the street was still empty as far as they could see. "We just follow this road down towards the beach and the docks should be south from there." Elyza explained before continuing. "If you see a biter, squeeze my hand and point, don't go after them, just let me handle them. But if shit hits the fan then use your gun."

Alicia nodded in agreement. She preferred that Elyza handle all of the undead dealings because sometimes they looked a little too human or even worse, familiar. She fell into step with Elyza, making sure that their shoulders never lost contact, as a way to reassure Elyza but also to reassure herself. She kept looking around as they walked down the street, looking behind them ever so often as well. Elyza had the same idea. Alicia noticed how Elyza would tighten her grip on the silenced gun every time they came up to an alleyway where infected could be hiding. But she wasn't the same as Alicia, she wasn't afraid, just very cautious.

They came upon their first walker in an alleyway, Alicia squeezed like instructed but Elyza had actually seen it first. Elyza didn't want to waste her ammunition on just one so she walked up to the biter, who was missing half an ear and an entire forearm and unhooked her machete. Swinging it with equal parts force and grace to split the biter's skull into two parts with a loud " _thwack_ " noise. After it was done she took a rag from the duffle to clean the blade, put it back in its holster and return to Alicia, how was apparently bent over and trying not to get sick.

Alicia was breathing heavily, trying to push back her nausea and stand up straight. She had seen plenty of biters and plenty of people killing them but not with a machete before, and never so close. In fact, she had gotten some of its thick blackish blood onto her whitish sneakers. Just tiny specks of blood, but that was too much. She threw up, it was disgusting for her to think that a piece, even just blood, of the horrid monsters were on her clothing. She wiped her mouth, then her shoes and stood up straight. Not proud of her reaction to the whole situation.

Elyza however was forgiving and understanding, she had held back her hair and rubbed and patted her back when it was over. She never had thrown up over a kill but there were quite a few times that she herself had gotten nauseous.

"You okay now?" Elyza asked, meeting Alicia's eyes that seemed slightly distraught.

"Yeah, I am, it's just I-." Alicia was going to explain before Elyza cut her off.

"No, I get it, you're a little new to this, sometimes I would feel sick around this stuff too." Elyza said, doing her best to make Alicia realize that it was her own response that wasn't normal under normal circumstances.

They continued on none-the-less, gradually coming across more and more infected. Alicia had now learned to look away or closed her eyes when Elyza would have to take them out. They never found more than one at a time, so Elyza was fine with just using her machete as her go-to weapon for now, although since the biters became more and more prevalent, she stopped cleaning the blade after about the sixth one. By now they were both sweating. The sun had risen high into the sky and both pairs of feet began to ache. But slowly they could tell that they were getting closer and closer to the coastline. After about three hours they made it to the beach. They could both see the waves crash up against the sand and feel the salty spray on their skin.

Elyza took off her boots, rolled up her jeans and walked barefoot across the hot sand before letting her feet become engulfed by the cold pacific water. Alicia did the same after some hesitation, pleasantly surprised that the beach was empty except for themselves. She struggled a bit with her socks and finding a suitable place to set her handgun. but as soon as she got everything set, she ran across the sand to dip her toes in the water.

Elyza had made herself busy by taking off her jacket, and then her tank top, resting them in the dry sand and wetting her arms to cool off. She took out a hair tie and tied her hair back before splashing the cool, salty water onto her hot and already salty face. It felt like absolute heaven to cool off.

Alicia stopped in her place when she realized that not only was Elyza not wearing her jacket but also not wearing her tank top as well, exposing her full breasts, wearing only her black bra on her upper body. The bra was slowly becoming the bane of her existence just by existing on Elyza's body. It was the burn of the hot sand on her feet that reminded her to function like a normal human being and keep walking. She made it to the water and began splashing water on her arms and face. Partly to cool off from the sun but also in some strange attempt to clean her less than heterosexual thoughts.

Elyza looked up at Alicia who seemed to be taking in her show of skin and smiled devilishly before splashing the girl with the freezing water.

Alicia gasped before glaring at Elyza and then splashing her back. A water war ensued for several minutes, Elyza winning out of sheer determination -and maybe even by distracting Alicia with her breasts- but not without getting soaked first. Alicia got out and took off her shirt to wring it out. And even though she was facing away from Elyza she could sense the absolute pause in any movement and feel Elyza's stare. Elyza cleared her throat unnecessarily and put back on her tank top and then her jacket. She then walked back to the water to clean the machete of the biter's blood. Wisely choosing to do this after they had cooled off, since the reddish black blood stained the water to an unsightly color.

Elyza was the first to finally speak after putting the long blade back into its holster. "We can take some snacks out the duffle and eat, maybe dry off a little in the process." Elyza said and Alicia nodded her head in eager agreeance. She hadn't had breakfast yet. Which was probably a good idea considering if she had had some this morning it would not be with her now because of her little incident with nausea earlier that morning. Elyza sat down on a bench at a nearby bus stop and Alicia sat next to her. Elyza unzipped the duffle and handed Alicia one of the three water bottles from the bag and a pop tart. Elyza got herself out a pop tart and they both ate in contented silence, passing the water back and forth between themselves in sips. Alicia had finished one of the two pastries in the reflective casing before looking over to Elyza.

Elyza had left the duffle bag open and Alicia looked inside, besides the other two water bottles, the duffle was devoid of much other than weapons. If Elyza would drop her off at the docks then she probably would have to stay in another apartment, another night and use up even more of her very limited supplies. On top of that, she would need to somehow on an empty stomach spend hours going uphill to her bike, avoiding infected on the way and then having to find gas before heading home. There were too many ways that Elyza could die just trying to get Alicia home. Too many for Alicia to be comfortable with. Alicia felt a pang of guilt, knowing that Elyza went through all of this hardship just to get her home. When it would've been much less trouble just to have ridden on past Alicia on her bike, to not stop to save her. Alicia realized she had been nothing but a leech, while Elyza slaved endlessly to get her home to her family. No, she would need to get Elyza onto that boat, she would fight her family if she had to. Or at the very least get Elyza some supplies for the trip back if Elyza refused to go with her. Alicia felt connected to Elyza somehow, they had known each other for a very limited time but now she could trust the woman with her life and obviously vice versa since she was in possession of one of Elyza's guns.

Alicia suddenly leaned over to hug Elyza, who stopped chewing the last piece to hug her back. Why were they hugging? Elyza had no idea, but it felt good. And she didn't want to stop.

"Thank you." Alicia whispered in Elyza's ear before leaning back, separating them.

"Its fine sweetheart, I don't even like the fudge kind." Elyza said, confused as to why Alicia had tears brimming her eyes.

"Not for the damn pop tart Elyza! For all your help, your food, water, weapons, just, your protection of me." Alicia said, a tear rolling down her cheek. "I haven't felt this safe and happy in a long time." Alicia said, and she started to sob quietly.

Elyza reached an arm over Alicia and wanted to diffuse the situation before she herself got emotional. She didn't trust herself to lose it all if she got emotional with this girl. "You know, there are always ways to repay me if you have time before going to the docks." Elyza purred, and Alicia looked up with tears in her eyes and started laughing instead of crying. Alicia suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, wait, will you come with me? To my family's place? It's safe and we could use your skills as well as give you everything you need." Alicia ranted hoping to explain everything before Elyza could say no. "There's shelter and a whole group to look out for each other."

Elyza sucked in a huge breath. So much of her wanted to scream and cry tears of joy. She had a chance to stay with the girl, hell, she would abandon everything at this point for this brunette, but it wasn't right. She couldn't live with Alicia's group even if she wanted to. She had scars and marks that would make anyone want to shoot her on the spot, anyone excluding Alicia. For some reason that Elyza still didn't understand, the girl had no fear or concerns for her own safety when she found out. No, a group would be different, they would have more to protect.

"Alicia, I can't." Elyza said finally, trying her best to hold back tears. Getting up from the bench and waiting for Alicia to follow so she could get her to the docks.

"Elyza please, I know I'm asking you to drop everything but-." Alicia tried before Elyza cut her off.

"Alicia! God damn it! Your group wouldn't accept me! I have marks remember! They would kill me as soon as they saw the scars!" Elyza said, walking faster so as to drop Alicia off as fast as she could to try to get over the gut wrenching pain of reality sooner.

"Elyza! You can't survive a trip home! I think you know that! You don't have food and only have one bottle of water! The trip back to the motorcycle is too long on an empty stomach and then you would have to somehow find gas!" Alicia yelled back, frustrated by the Australian's stubbornness.

"I can survive Alicia! I always have!" Elyza yelled back, although she knew Alicia was right, she didn't have very good odds.

"Maybe life should be about more than just surviving." Alicia said softly, tears running down her cheeks.

Elyza went silent, staring into Alicia's pained and stormy eyes, feeling hot tears run down her cheeks. She felt another wave of that Déjà vu feeling crash over her and she had to breath in deeply to think straight. There were too many things that could go wrong, but in that moment she didn't care. She leaned forward and at the last second had the sense to just hug her instead of kiss her. Elyza hugged her tight though, and Alicia hugged her back just as tightly, even though she was a little mad that Elyza had copped out like that. She had been ready for that kiss, she had even closed her eyes, but instead of trembling lips against her own she felt strong arms encase her tightly. They separated moments later and Elyza turned away to wipe away the tears on her face before turning around to find Alicia doing the same thing.

They started walking towards the direction of the docks, Elyza knew the place and also knew it would only take them about twenty minutes to get there. She looked out for walkers and ended up having to kill four before they reached the harbor entrance. The docks were desolate, with only a few, previously raided cars and even fewer boats, one of them had actually sunk to the bottom. Elyza looked around at the surrounding apartments, looking for signs of Alicia's family before realizing that Alicia had walked straight out to the furthest docking limbs that stretched out to the ocean and went right up to the edge. Elyza had no idea why Alicia would do such a thing before she saw a boat slowly making its way over. Her jaw had dropped. She had expected that they be living in an apartment, or maybe even on a docked boat but not actually on a functioning boat. Alicia turned to Elyza and saw the surprised look on her face. She smiled at Elyza who was too focused on the boat to notice.

"Alicia!" The people from the boat called to her faintly, coming in closer and closer. Alicia waved at them before turning to Elyza to relay instructions. "Unarm yourself, no sudden movements, answer all of their questions and whatever you do don't take off your jacket. Not yet anyway." Alicia ordered Elyza and Elyza immediately took off the machete from her hip and gave the silenced gun to Alicia, as well as a tiny dagger Alicia hadn't realized Elyza was carrying in her boot.

The boat came within three feet of the dock and her brother Nick jumped onto the wood to bring her into a tight hug. They didn't always get along so well but they had just realized the other wasn't dead, which was cause for celebration. Nick let go to look Elyza up and down, instinctively getting in front of Alicia for protection but Alicia wouldn't have it. She got around him and stood next to Elyza to introduce them. She wanted to show him she wasn't in any way threatened by Elyza and he understood pretty quickly.

"Elyza, this is my brother Nick, Nick, this is Elyza." Alicia said nervously, hoping that they would get along. Elyza reached her hand out and Nick, with slight hesitation at first, reached out as well and shook her hand firmly.

"Nice to meet you," Elyza said, doing her best to look friendly. Nick seemed to warm up to the stranger after the introduction. He just nodded in response.

"Nick, she saved me from the infected after we got separated. Ever since then she's fed me, saved me from infected and did her best to get me back here." Alicia explained, hoping her brother would realize how generous that was from a stranger.

He did seem surprised by how much Elyza had done for his sister. He immediately met Elyza's eyes. "Thank you, for doing all that, if you hadn't done all that she might not be standing in front of me. So thank you." Nick said slowly and sincerely, slowly getting emotional but not crying. "Alicia, can I talk to you for a second?"

Elyza took the hint and walked off several paces before busying herself with watching the tiny fish swim in the clear Pacific water.

Nick got close to his sister before speaking. "Everyone from the raid has been found and are fine."

"Thank god." Alicia said, relieved. "Nick, Elyza might not make it back to her house alive, she spent most of her supplies trying to keep me alive and well, and I just want to take her to the island. She would be a great help because she's really good at… well everything, surviving."

"I don't know about her staying but we can get her to the island for at least a night and see what mom and dad have to say about it." Nick said, he felt for his sister and how much empathy she had deep down. He also thought Elyza seemed trustworthy and kind. A friend for Alicia would be good for her, and a helper would be even better for the group, especially someone who lived on those streets and would know how to get supplies. After all, it was just their family and a few other people who occupied the tiny marine science observatory on the island.

"Thank you Nick!" Alicia said, before hugging her.

Alicia ran over to Elyza to give her the good news.

"You can stay, for at least a night but I'm sure I can convince my parents to let you stay longer." Alicia enthused to Elyza, like a little girl who just confirmed a sleepover. Elyza's smile got brighter and brighter by the second after hearing the news.

Nick walked over to the celebration. "You can hop on the boat as soon as we check you and your jacket for weapons." Nick said friendlily but also serious in what he had said.

Alicia interjected. "She already gave me her weapons nick, don't be rude." Alicia defended. Elyza was internally freaking out, if Alicia couldn't convince her brother of the lack of necessity then she could be in some deep shit. She decided to take matters into her own hands.

"Uhh, look, uh Nick? Is it? I would take off my jacket but I don't want to flash you. We went for a swim and all I have on is a tank top under this which is still wet. And see through." Elyza lied relatively easily. Hoping that was enough for him.

"Oh! Uh well then, I guess it's not necessary… Under the conditions." He stumbled with his words before heading back to the boat, Elyza and Alicia in tow. Elyza picked up the duffle and gave it to Nick, who briefly struggled with its weight. Elyza offered to take it back but the strain was more desirable than losing his masculinity in the situation. The got onto the slightly swaying boat, and Nick pointed towards the male driver with sandy blond hair.

"That's bob." Bob gave a small wave. "He used to be a marine biologist on the island."

"Wait what? Island? You guys are living on an island?" Elyza asked, flabbergasted, as Nick handed her and Alicia life vests to put on, which they did.

"Yeah, it used to be a government owned marine observatory before everything happened." Bob explained, pulling away from the dock and driving the boat into what seemed like the open ocean. "After the infection spread, we lost half the crew and abandoned our jobs to just survive instead. Now its 100% free of any infected and since those things can't swim it's pretty well protected, unless you're infected that is." Bob said with a chuckle and Elyza forced a laugh. Giving a worried look to Alicia, who was too busy looking into the water. Either looking or throwing up, she was so bent over that she honestly couldn't tell but the way that she came up to smile back at Elyza, and coming over to sit right next to her, told her that she was just looking for signs of marine life.

Elyza resisted the urge to wrap an arm around Alicia, knowing that her brother would've seen her do it. Instead she just snuggled close and Alicia rested her head on Elyza's shoulder. Alicia started breathing in the scent of her jacket again. Elyza was about to ask why she does that but Alicia interrupted her with a question of her own.

"How the hell can you smell like that in the apocalypse?" Alicia complained quietly, so her brother couldn't hear.

"I dunno, I have this body wash in my bag that I found, but I could only find ones that were for men, so that's why I smell like that." Elyza explained.

"Bullshit." Alicia deadpanned, looking up at Elyza with squinted eyes. "I bet there were plenty of choices but you just wanted a men's one, didn't you?" Alicia accused.

Elyza took in a deep breath, she was right. "Maybe… but you don't seem to be complaining." Elyza countered.

Alicia's mouth shut tight, choosing instead of rebutting to instead lay her head back down onto her shoulder and continuing to sniff Elyza, this time more subtly. But it didn't work, Elyza heard it all the same and it honestly sounded like Alicia was suffocating, trying to sniff past the bulky life vest which was less than fragrant.

Forget candles, Alicia was now addicted to Elyza's scent. The slight smell of the ocean from the spray around the fast moving boat and their earlier playing in the water only made the original smell sweeter and barely affected its intensity.

Elyza looked out off the edge of the boat and back at where they had come. She realized she might never see her bike again, but for Alicia it was a good trade off. The land where they had come from was now only a faint outline, and Even though the boat was incredibly fast, Alicia managed to fall asleep on her shoulder quickly, to which Nick gave her a strange look but declined to comment.

Elyza remembered their conversation about her smell and decided to lower her head to smell Alicia's scalp. Honestly the action made her feel creepy and perverted but the scent that invaded her senses was well worth the feeling. Alicia smelt clean, a little like salt water from their swim but the shampoo or body wash, soap or whatever it was that Alicia was using smelt like it could've been made from Aphrodite's tears. There was the well-blended mixture of lavender, vanilla and orchids that worked together as a light and dainty, yet slightly seductive perfume. It was way too fem for her to wear herself but it was absolute ecstasy to smell on another woman. Especially Alicia.

She also probably left the house for good but honestly her bike was more important to her. She had managed to pack all of her favorite weapons, her two shotguns, her rifle, several hand guns, two daggers, her machete and even her bow and arrows, as well as a small fortune of ammunition. It might've seemed extreme but if they decided to keep her on the island then they would probably thank her for her generous contribution to their weaponry, which based on Alicia's preparedness, probably consisted of knives and since it was a marine observatory maybe they had a tranquillizer gun, but maybe not.

Elyza stopped sniffing Alicia to look up at the approaching small land mass. Bob turned around to yell, "Land ho!" playfully. Which to Elyza's slight irritation woke up the angel sleeping on her shoulder. Which ended any more time for her to smell the girl without being even more creepy. But Alicia yawned and looked out at the island before turning to Elyza and smiling that drunk in love smile.

"Welcome home Elyza."

* * *

 **A/N: Hey guys, I do sincerely hope you enjoyed the newest installment. I do love writing it but it does take quite a bit of time. But I will continue to update and write in all the spare time I have. The chapters will soon get deeper and deeper into flirtation and seduction as it continues but just a friendly reminder that Alicia has to figure out her identity and Elyza has to get over her fear to love first... Ooooh so much angst! Much love to you all.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

* * *

The island was beautiful.

Green grass, tall palms, towering sheer cliffs and unmarred white sand. But that was nothing. Nothing compared to the woman who resided there, the one that stole her heart.

Elyza was surrounded by the beauty of the island, surrounded by the sun, the spray of salt, the smell of mangoes. But somehow she just couldn't take her eyes off of the brunette before her. She was in love, and she could finally admit it. Not to Alicia, no. But to herself… yes.

As they got out of the boat and onto the small wooden dock area of the island they looked around, but Elyza did not, she looked only at Alicia, who turned around and smiled a grand smile. "Shall I give you a tour?" Alicia asked with a smile spread across her face, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Yes please." Elyza said, with a face of joy but eyes of quiet hunger.

"First, we can go to the house, get your stuff settled in, and then we go to the beach." Alicia said, taking Elyza's hand. Elyza adjusted the duffle on her shoulder, following the brunette along a dirt path that led from the docks to a mid-sized colonial house. It looked fancily furnished but not huge. Alicia opened the door and Elyza tried to remember the last time she found someone who didn't have to lock their doors out of fear. Alicia practically pulled Elyza up the stairs in utter glee. She ran into a room, but stopped short when she saw who was standing there. There was a moment of hesitation before Elyza felt Alicia's hand being ripped from her own. She looked up and saw Alicia hugging an older woman, presumably Alicia's mother. They separated and the woman looked at Elyza, up and down.

"Oh! Where are my manners? My name is Madison, it's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Alicia's mother. Bob told me on the radio how you helped out Alicia to get her back to me. I don't think I could thank you enough." The woman –Madison—said with sincerity and a smile before continuing. "As you can see, this isn't a mansion but you're welcome to stay, you would just have to sleep with Alicia."

Elyza froze for a moment and swallowed before she realized the woman was referring to _just_ sharing a room. "Oh, uh yeah I can do that. Not a problem." Elyza said after regaining her senses, but Madison didn't seem to notice her falter.

"Well, looks like you have a roommate, Alicia!" Madison said before leaving the room.

"Yeah, I guess I do." Alycia said with a smirk to Elyza, waggling her eyebrows once her mother had left. Elyza knew Alicia would be the death of her.

Elyza dropped her duffle of death onto the floor and sat on the made bed, looking out the window, before turning her eyes back to Alicia, who sat close beside her.

"This is my room, a little empty, but you can't take much in the move when it's the end of earth." Alicia said with slight humor.

Elyza looked around the room, it had a desk in the corner with a chair and a cabinet against the wall which was open, with a couple shirts and pairs of pants folded neatly inside. The bed wasn't a queen size, instead it was a full. Which gave them enough room to sleep comfortably together, but not quite enough to not be really close. Alicia followed Elyza's eyes scanning the room, checking for facial ques in what she was thinking. Knowing Elyza and her thought process; she was probably deciding what surfaces were and weren't good places for sex. Not that Alicia mentioned her theory.

"It's nice." Elyza said finally, turning her attention back to Alicia, who was staring at her. Elyza got up and walked over to the desk which had pens, pencils and paper scattered across its surface. "Do you mind?" Elyza asked, holding up a paper and pencil. Alicia shook her head no, curious.

Elyza sat down on the chair at the desk, twiddling with the pencil in her hand. "Before all of it happened, I liked to draw. Mostly just sketches of landmarks nature. Stuff that reminded me of Australia. Sometimes I would draw people." Elyza said, looking up at Alicia. Alicia smiled at the confession. "Would you mind if I drew you?" Elyza asked quietly, nervous and solemn at the desk.

"Not at all, but… what do I do?" Alicia asked, unsure of where to put her hands or how to position herself.

"Nothing, Just, maybe look out the window and put your hands wherever feels comfortable." Elyza instructed as Alicia looked to the left, staring outside the window, while Elyza scribbled away on the paper, making defined lines first and then slowly attributing details.

"How many people have you drawn before?" Alycia asked, trying not to move.

"Not many, mostly they don't know I draw them. Usually I only draw them if they are a part of a scenery that I like, not the main focus you know?" Elyza said, glancing up at Alycia now and then.

"Quite a scenic view in my bedroom, huh?" Alycia said, joking about the emptiness of the room. She didn't understand why Elyza would want to paint her room.

"Actually yes, since this time the person _is_ the focus." Elyza said with a grin, her eyes still flipping between the paper and Alycia. Alycia laughed, a smile now on her face. Elyza had thought of the titanic, the movie, and how she would kill to draw Alicia naked.

"Well, if you like scenery then you should paint the cliffs, at high tide the waves bash up against them and it's just beautiful how powerful they are." Alicia said, picturing the image in her mind.

"No, no." Elyza said slowly before taking in a breath. "I don't think water crashing against rocks can beat your beauty, darling. You're flawless… perfect." Elyza found herself rambling quietly, too consumed in rendering the girl onto paper to realize what she had said. The next time her eyes flitted up to Alicia, she realized the girl was turning red.

Alicia was turning red because she had never received a more genuine compliment. But it was more than just that. She realized that she felt the same way about Elyza as she did for Matt. And she loved Matt. She didn't know if this meant she was falling in love with Elyza, but it meant something.

"Sorry." Elyza said finally, hoping that it would compensate for the awkwardness sitting the room.

"For what? Complementing me? No one should apologize for complements, not when they come from someone who deserves to be complemented themselves." Alicia said with a smirk. Elyza cleared her throat, leaning back in her chair.

"All done." Elyza said. And Alicia got up to look at the paper. Elyza hesitated to show her for a moment, embarrassed. But she relented, and Alicia took in the drawing with curiosity.

"Elyza, you're talented." Alicia said finally. She looked at the drawing, not only had Elyza captured the way that the light fell into the room, but also the details of her face, her cheekbones, lips, nose and eyes looked like they had been traced onto the paper directly.

Elyza laughed, brushing off the compliment. "That's not the first time someone has told me that."

Alicia rolled her eyes, but she was still looking at the details of her profile that together gave off a thoughtful, almost wistful look. The drawing was beautiful, crafted with care and elegance.

"Do you mind if I keep it?" Alicia asked, looking hopefully at Elyza.

"Sure." Elyza said, smiling. "So you like it?" Elyza asked.

Alicia smiled. "Yes. I like your style, realistic but simplistic as well. Hard edges and soft shading." Alicia said, not taking her eyes off of the drawing.

Elyza beamed, no one had complemented her drawing skills before, she usually never allowed people to see it. "It's been a while since I've drawn, but I'm glad you like it." Elyza said. "So you mentioned the beach?" Elyza asked.

"Oh! Yeah." Alicia said, looking out the window. "we can go if we hurry, even watch the sunset."

"Romantic." Elyza commented, and Alicia rolled her eyes with a smile.

Alicia went to the drawers and pawed through some of the clothing before retrieving a bathing suit. She told Elyza she could look for something she could wear in the water or just go in her bra. Elyza looked through the drawers and didn't find anything of Alicia's that would fit her bust size. But she did find a pair of black, short, women's board shorts that would probably fit. Alicia came out of the bathroom with a silk robe and a towel across her neck, and let Elyza through. Elyza changed in the bathroom, striping down to just her bra, underwear and the board shorts. She grabbed a towel and left, left the bathroom, and Alicia speechless, again. Alicia had to peel her eyes away from Elyza's bust and toned midriff yet again, and they walked down the stairs and out the door. They walked along another dirt path to the beach, which usually would have the sand in dunes from all the people, but here the sand was flat, an expanse rarely touched by the human population, not like on the mainland. Elyza had made sure not to release the wrap of her rowel around her body until she knew they were alone, she didn't want anybody seeing her scars, even in the fading light.

Elyza was the first to wade into the water, waiting while Alicia set down her towel and took off the robe. Elyza gasped. She was wearing a black bikini that showed off quite a lot of skin. Elyza saw toned legs, abs and upper arms. The girl may have been thin but she clearly wasn't weak, though, in the moment, Elyza was. Elyza had to rip her eyes away from Alicia and looked out into the ocean trying to ignore how fast her heart was beating. She was already waist deep in the water but decided to go deeper, dunking her head under, coming up and slicking back her hair. The water was cold, but it was bearable. Elyza heard a scream and turned around. She was relieved to see it was just Alicia sticking her toe in the water.

"It's cold!" She screamed, and Elyza laughed at her.

"It's not so bad once you're in!" Elyza yelled back, smiling at Alicia. She started walking towards the brunette, trying her best not to make fast movements that would splash her.

"How do I know you aren't lying?" Alicia asked, eyebrows raised. Elyza even closer to Alicia, only a few feet away now.

"I guess you just have to trust me." Elyza said and offered a hand. Alicia took her hand slowly but without hesitation. Elyza held out her other hand and Alicia took that one as well. Elyza then slowly waded back into the water backwards. Within seconds Alicia was hissing at the temperature of the water, looking down. Elyza smiled and laughed softly.

Soon they were waist deep and Elyza stopped, waiting for Alicia to stop huffing and puffing and look up at her.

"See? That wasn't so hard now was it?" Elyza asked, letting go of Alicia and running a hand through her wet hair. "But honestly I wouldn't blame you if you didn't trust me. I did splash you earlier, and I definitely thought about pulling you in. But I decided against it." Elyza mused.

"And that makes all the difference to me." Alicia said back, before dipping lower into the water and swimming. "I would rather be wet on my own terms." Alicia said, and Elyza busted out laughing.

Alicia sighed, rolled her eyes and splashed Elyza in the face. Elyza froze, the water had caught her off guard. Alicia laughed at Elyza, and Elyza still held her place, glaring at Alicia.

"I just thought that maybe you needed some water to wash your dirty mind." Alicia said, still laughing.

"You're the one that said it!" Elyza laughed, splashing Alicia back. This started yet another water war between them, the second one that day. Elyza won yet again, by attacking and then lifting Alicia over her shoulder, Alicia kicked, screamed and laughed her ass off. Elyza enjoyed every moment, she carried Alicia to the sand then she set her down on the sand, before falling onto her back beside her. They both were breathless and smiling up to the dark sky, the sun was gone. Alicia had propped her head up on her hand, rolled onto her stomach, looking at Elyza with a ghost of a smile on her lips. Elyza looked up at her, smirking.

"It's getting dark you know." Elyza said pointedly at Alicia, who just rolled her eyes.

"But I'm not ready to go in yet." Alicia complained, dropping her head against her hands.

"Neither am I, but it would suck if your mother suspects something happened out here this late." Elyza said. "They would probably send a search party and then I would get in trouble."

"Since when are you afraid of getting into trouble?" The brunette asked accusingly.

"Since it might affect what your mother thinks of me. If she thinks I'm a bad influence on you she might not want me hanging around you, or even send me back to shore." Elyza said softly.

"My mother shouldn't control who I want to be friends with." Alicia said softly, depressed.

"Hey, it's alright." Elyza said, lovingly brushing back a wet strand of hair from Alicia's face. Elyza wondered if that's all they'll ever be, friends. That's not what she wanted Alicia to be to her, but she didn't want to give her any reason to pull away either. "Let's go, alright?"

"Ok." Alicia said finally, pushing herself up off the ground before dusting off sand. She watched as Elyza walked over to her towel and wrapped it around herself. Alicia felt that Elyza was too sober, and she was feeling far too playful to let the Australian sulk. Elyza started walking on the path, faster and ahead of Alicia. So, Alicia quickly put on her robe and ran after Elyza, trying to be quiet. When Alicia got close she brought up a hand and smacked Elyza's ass while she ran past her. Elyza yelped a little and froze again but not for long, she ran after the laughing brunette. Alicia beat Elyza to the house and locked Elyza outside of the house until Elyza had promised not to retaliate. Elyza had done so and kept her promise. But she planned to get Alicia back when she least expected it.

They went upstairs and changed into their regular clothes. Elyza had to borrow some clothes while hers dried and she decided to sleep without a bra, much to Alicia's conflicting emotions of horror and arousal. But mostly it was just horror _because_ of her arousal.

She had no idea what she was, she was pretty sure she had felt sexual attraction towards Matt, they even had gotten pretty close to sex, although they never did actually commit to the act. But she also felt definite sexual attraction for Elyza, she couldn't keep her eyes off of her. She just couldn't deny her feelings for the blonde any longer. She had tried to, but it just caused pain and embarrassment. She wasn't completely gay, or completely straight. "Bisexual?" Alicia considered in her head for a moment. But she felt like she needed more time to think things through.

* * *

They got into bed. As soon as Alicia knew that Elyza was asleep, she got out of bed and retrieved Elyza's leather jacket, honestly she no longer knew if she could sleep without it. She retrieved her prized possession and crawled back into bed. Elyza was asleep; but in her sleep she instinctively wrapped an arm around Alicia's waist. Alicia froze, at first she was thinking of the best possible way to get her off without waking her up. But then, she thought 'why?'. She only snuggled closer to Elyza with the jacket still tight in her grasp. They slept peacefully, both having pleasant dreams of the other.

* * *

Elyza was the first to wake up. She breathed in and smelled the slight lavender scent of Alicia's shampoo and opened her eyes to see the back of Alicia's head right in front of her own. She knotted her eyebrows together, trying to remember how the night ended well enough for them to fall asleep spooning. But when she couldn't remember after several seconds she gave up, just allowing herself to enjoy the moment. She snuggled against the back of Alicia's neck and fell back to sleep.

* * *

Madison knew Alicia was always independent, strong willed, and a powerful woman. woman, huh, that seemed like an inaccurate description of her daughter who to her; still seemed like a little girl. Even though she had proven time and time again that she was much, much more. In fact, her eighteenth birthday was coming up soon. And then legally she would be an adult, not that the legality of anything mattered much these days.

She just wanted back her little girl. She recently was faced with her daughter's disappearance and it was one of the hardest things for her to ever go through. So here she was. Making eggs, bacon, and toast for her and her Australian friend upstairs, hoping that it would bring back just a piece of her little girl.

She walked up the stairs with her tray of food and stood before Alicia's door. She was so excited to spend time with her daughter and she had heard her pure laughter inside that she had forgotten to knock.

* * *

Elyza nudged Alicia with her nose, trying to wake her up. They had stuff to do and she wanted to get on Alicia's parents good side by offering to help with whatever she could. Alicia groaned but refused to open her eyes. Surprisingly, by now both girls knew of their closeness on the bed, but neither made a move to separate. In fact, Alicia had just snuggled closer when she first realized it.

"Pumpkin." Elyza drawled out, hoping to get Alicia's attention. "We have to get up so I can help out your parents."

"Why?" Alicia whined.

"Because I want to stay a while, and I can't do that if they hate me." Elyza said.

"They don't hate you." Alicia said.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah" Alicia laughed. It was genuine and full, that is, before her mother barged into their room unannounced.

There was no hiding the fact that they were spooning. Even after Alicia shot out of bed and Elyza rolled over to get as far away as possible, it was too late. It might've been innocent in their eyes before, but not to Madison, especially the way they reacted which only made it more suspicious. The food was gone, it was on the floor right after Madison gasped and dropped it. They were all wide eyed for several seconds staring at each other before Madison mumbled something about paper towels and cleaning up the mess before she practically ran out the door to go downstairs. That only left Alicia and Elyza.

"Well fuck." Elyza said finally, breaking the tense silence. "If they didn't hate me before, they certainly do now."

"Elyza please, this isn't funny." Alicia said slowly, she had no idea what to tell her mother. It really was innocent but the way they reacted to Madison coming in, that didn't exactly scream innocent. She could say she was cold, but that was kind of lame. She could say that they had just gotten to be super close best friends, but that was doubtful too. Alicia let out an angry sigh, why was it so hard to defend something that wasn't even bad?

Elyza knew this look, she knew the terror on Alicia's face, the terror on Madison's face. She knew it from girls she had dated, but also from her own past. She felt for Alicia and wanted nothing more than to comfort her, but she knew that would only further confuse things for Alicia, so she kept quiet, willing to listen to whatever Alicia had to vent.

Alicia considered telling the truth, that they were in a thing together. But the problem was it was just a thing, they just flirted and snuggled and Alicia had never wanted to confront the fact that it was so close to an actual relationship so they never did. They weren't nothing, but they weren't actually something either. It would've been way easier to be able to chase down her mother and explain that she was guilty of snuggling with her girlfriend, but she couldn't even do that.

"I need to talk to her, please, just stay here." Alicia said finally. Elyza nodded violently in response, clearly willing to do things her way.

Alicia took in a deep breath, before walking around the food on the floor to get out of the door. When she left she ran into her mother again who froze, with cleaning supplies in her hands, luckily she didn't drop them as well. Alicia took the supplies without a word, and tossed them into her room. "Elyza could you please try to clean up while I talk with my mother?" Alicia yelled, and she got an immediate affirmative yes from the Australian.

"Alicia-."Madison had started to say before Alicia cut her off.

"Lets go outside to talk, alright?" Alicia offered and her mother nodded. They walked down the stairs in a tense silence before leaving the house.

"Can we talk now?" Alicia's mom had asked, she had a deeply concerned look.

"Yeah, go ahead, ask away." Alicia said, thinking it would be easier to answer questions than explain it. She took in a deep breath for the oncoming interrogation.

"How long has this gone on?"

"A couple days? I'm not sure."

"Are you two dating?"

"Not exactly, its complicated."

"Have you had sex?"

"Mom, oh my god, no."

"Are you gay?"

"… I don't know."

"Alright."

"Alright? What does that mean?"

"It means alright, you can keep doing whatever you're doing. As long as you promise to let me know if you've figured out your identity, let me know if and when you two officially date and talk to me about your relationship with her before you have sex. No exceptions, and no more secrets." Madison deadpanned.

Alicia felt tears roll down her cheek as she nodded. This was a way better reaction then she would've ever expected from her mother. She was overfilled with happiness from her mother's generous display of compassion and understanding. She pulled her mother into a tight hug and Madison just hugged her back just as tightly, wiping away her daughter's tears when they separated.

* * *

"How'd it go? Is she mad?" Elyza asked when she saw Alicia walk back into the room that she spent ten minutes cleaning tirelessly.

"No, she supports me. But I just didn't know how to-." Alicia paused.

"how to what?" Elyza enquired.

"…how to explain what we were. Because we aren't really anything" Alicia said finally. Relieved from getting the issue out in the open.

"What?" Elyza asked, her face melting to sadness. "We, we aren't anything to you?"

Alicia stopped, she had not expected that reaction from Elyza. Her head tilted to the side. "You think we're in a relationship?"

"No! Yes? I don't know!" Elyza said, starting to pace. "I just thought that after all of this that you wouldn't think that we are nothing. That after all of that flirting, innuendo, and the sharing of my life that we aren't anything to you. No. We aren't dating, but we aren't nothing either." Elyza sighed, "At least not to me."

"Elyza," Alicia said slowly, coming closer to her. "I don't even know if I'm gay. Alright? These feelings are too complicated and confusing for me to consider dating. I like you Elyza, I really do. But I can't be in a relationship. Maybe someday, but not yet."

Elyza tried her best not to cry. She loved her, she really did, it took forever for her to admit it to herself, but for some reason she had fallen in love with this girl who probably didn't feel the same way. It hurt, but she nodded in understanding.

Alicia wanted to be with her, she really did, she had been slowly accepting the fact that she was attracted to Elyza, both sexually and romantically. She wanted to be Elyza's girlfriend, and she wanted Elyza to be hers. but she couldn't do that if she didn't even know for sure what her sexuality was. Their thing, whatever it was, would have to wait.

"I get it, you need time to figure out what you are, to find out for yourself. Just, please let me know when you do." Elyza said softly, tears brimming her eyes. "I'm gonna, I'm gonna take this to the trash and go for a walk. ok?" Elyza said pointing to the mess of breakfast. Her voice cracked at ok and she hated herself for it. How could she be so naïve as to think that they were something.

* * *

She went on her walk after throwing away the trash, it was such a beautiful day but Elyza didn't care, she walked away from the house and to the beach were they had gone before. She checked to make sure that she was alone before collapsing into the sand and crying. She had never felt this heartbroken over anybody and they hadn't even been in a relationship. That was the point, they never had, she had managed to fall head over heels in love with this girl, without so much as a kiss on the lips. How? She had no idea, but it was painful. She knew Alicia was being honest and did the right thing, she didn't blame Alicia for anything; only herself for falling in love too easily. She cried into the sand for several more minutes.

* * *

Alicia was no better. She started crying into her pillow as soon as Elyza had left. She had a perfectly good chance with an amazing, beautiful girl but she threw it away. She threw it away because she was afraid. Afraid that she might be imagining her attraction to Elyza, it had only happened in the last few days. That was way too fast to fall in love with someone, right? Wait. Love? Did she love Elyza? Her first instinct was to say no but something inside her knew that wasn't true. Not completely anyway. There were so many times she had felt a deep and pure emotion that couldn't be anything but love. She treated her like a loved one, looked at her with love, even snuggled her with nothing except love. It wasn't lust, although she felt that too, it was love. Shit.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the update speed, it just took me a while to plan out how I wanted this to go.** **I know. This chapter is kind of sad and angsty. But have no fear, it gets better from here.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

* * *

It was definitely hard. For both of them.

After their little fight, break up, rejection, whatever you want to call it, there was silence. They didn't speak to each other for the rest of the day. Elyza went to seek out and help Alicia's step-father because she still wanted to stay in their good graces. Alicia went out to the training yard to practice with her knife. Stabbing one of the gym dummies that many times couldn't have been healthy. But it wasn't Elyza she was angry at, it was herself.

They avoided each other for different reasons. Elyza didn't want to spend too much time around her so it would be less painful but also because she didn't want to tempt herself or Alicia, for that matter. If Alicia asked for space, or time to figure herself out then Elyza would give it to her. She would give her the universe and she would give her eternity. Without question or argument.

Alicia however knew how much she had hurt Elyza, Elyza's voice had cracked and tears were brimming her eyes when she told her she wasn't ready for a relationship. Which was pretty significant given the fact that this was the same Australian who could blow the head off an infected without a second thought. Alicia didn't want to see how much she had hurt the woman that she quite _probably_ loved. But the separation did help, she gave the rest of the day devoted to stabbing dummies and thinking about her history of romantic interaction with both boys and girls. She never had actually dated a girl, but, she used to have these feelings around them that now, looking back, were probably crushes. But she also liked boys. She thought that both genders were hot and it absolutely overwhelmed her. And when she even thought to consider people in between or off the gender scale she wanted to cry at the complexity of herself.

Maybe she was angry, at herself, her over-complicated sexuality and just a little bit at Elyza for bringing this hell upon her. Sexuality sucked.

* * *

But all of that avoiding came to null when they both realized right around sunset that they were still required to sleep in the same god damned bed. They managed to avoid each other around dinner time, eating at different locations, at different times.

They didn't hate each other; they just didn't want to feel the awkwardness of their situation. They both eventually went to bed though, without a word and did their very best not to touch each other at all. Alicia though, did retrieve Elyza's jacket as usual because it was _just_ a jacket that happened to smell _really_ good, and turned out to be an excellent object to snuggle up with.

Their sleep was more fitful than usual, they both tossed and turned but surprisingly neither of them woke up. Even though their bodies became entangled with each other over the course of the night, they never woke. Until the morning, that is.

* * *

Alicia breathed in deeply. She was laying on what was a comfortable pillow but it was not hers. Her hand also cupped this pillow, and she had to feel around before she was resting on and cupping not one, but two, pillows, which were oddly much smaller than normal pillows and they were not pillows at all, but breasts. Elyza's breasts. Her eyes shot open and she screamed a little when she realized she was literally laying on top of Elyza and sleeping against her breasts. She also noted that Elyza had one had up the back of her shirt and the other cupping her right ass cheek. Elyza immediately woke up and screamed as well. They jumped apart from each other, which was a bad idea. Because Alicia landed on the hard floor and Elyza ended up hitting her head hard against the head board. They groaned before verbally attacking each other.

"What the hell Elyza? You were holding my ass! You horny fucking lesbian!" Alicia accused, trying to get up off the floor.

"Excuse me!? You were practically motor-boating me! Not to mention you were laying on my entire body as well, _Alicia_!" They were both tense for several seconds before Alicia slowly started to smile in guilt. Everything she had said was correct, and even if Elyza was a little more handsy in her sleep, Alicia was the one practically straddling her. Elyza started laughing slowly and they soon had tears in their eyes, their sides hurting from laughing. Neither knew if it was healthy due to the hysterical nature of the laughter.

"This is ridiculous." Elyza said after they had stopped laughing. "But I guess it does prove you really are a top."

Alicia, although still confused about the meaning of that word, laughed. And Elyza laughed with her. For a moment they were back to themselves, carefree and laughing with each other. But when the laughter subsided they stood around the room awkwardly once again.

"well, uh, I have to help your step-dad with training. He said he wants me to teach your group hand-to-hand combat, or even how to shoot some of my guns." Elyza said, trying to steer away the awkwardness in the room.

"That's good, great." Alicia said, not knowing how to respond naturally to the woman. "So you're here to stay." She breathed in deeply, her face falling to a frown. "Just great." Alicia said flatly, with not so subtle sarcasm.

Elyza turned her head to the side, looking like a mixture of confused and hurt, painfully similar to yesterday. "Yeah, I think I am, unless you don't want me here."

Alicia's eyes widened, that's not what she meant at all. Their friendship might be currently strained but she still cared for Elyza, as a friend and as something more (she just didn't know what yet). "NO! No, that's not what I meant, Elyza!" Alicia said. "Things are just complicated now."

"No, I get it. You don't want to deal with me anymore, just because things got a little hard." Elyza said bitingly.

"It's not that." Alicia said defensively.

"No? It's not that suddenly you are faced with feelings you don't understand? Feelings that are completely new and hard to accept?" Elyza accused and Alicia went silent. "You aren't the only one with those feelings, those issues, Alicia. I will give you time to process and accept your feelings. But you better tell me right now if I am wasting my time with you, as some kind of experiment." Elyza said and immediately regretted saying it. Alicia was tearing up and she threw her arm out to point aggressively towards the door.

"GET OUT." Alicia commanded, and Elyza left without fight, knowing that she had royally fucked up. Elyza cursed under her breath as Alicia slammed the door.

Elyza left the house and walked back out to the beach to process her feelings. She really screwed up. She shouldn't have said anything after Alicia's 'just great.' But she was so paranoid about the prospect of Alicia hating her. She couldn't help it, she lashed out, with the one thing she loved as her target. Elyza cried as she replayed what she had said to Alicia. It was a malicious attack at Alicia's feelings that Elyza knew were complicated, questioning is complicated for everyone who goes through it. And Elyza knew she should've known better than to strike such a low blow. Especially one that invalidated Alicia's feelings which, were definitely and completely valid. It was borderline biphobic, if not so.

Elyza fell back against the sand. She wasn't biphobic, she was better than that, but Alicia put her in such a dark and paranoid place when she rejected her. _For valid reasons_ , Elyza reminded herself. Elyza continued to cry for several more minutes, knowing that she would have to eventually collect herself to apologize. She wasn't good at apologizing either.

* * *

Elyza walked back to the house and saw Madison, who approached her immediately, they hadn't talked at all since the incident that ended with bacon grease in the carpet. Elyza took in a deep breath and prepared herself for whatever Madison had to say.

Madison approached her softly, before stopping to stand in front of her. "How is she?" Madison asked.

"What do you mean?" Elyza asked back, confused.

"Well for one thing I heard screaming and when you came out here you seemed distressed, not to mention the fact that Alicia was bawling her eyes out in that bedroom for several hours after you left. Also, one of our practice dummies have been stabbed to shreds. So how is she?" Madison deadpanned.

Elyza froze, she had no idea how upset Alicia had become over their whole… situation. She didn't know she also had cried. "Not well, no thanks to me." Elyza answered.

"I know you aren't dating, but I also know it's because my daughter needs time to sort everything out. I just need to know if this is some kind of game to you." Madison said, her protective mother stance coming in to play. It was a complete turnaround from her usual friendly demeanor.

"No, I, I care about her. I really do. Everything is just, complicated right now." Elyza admitted truthfully, getting tired of that word, but Madison believed her. For now, she was satisfied that her daughter's heart was protected with this one.

"Alright." Madison said, composing herself to look more threatening. "Because if you hurt her I will tear you apart and feed you to the infected myself."

"I would never want to hurt her." Elyza said, determined to convince Alicia's mother of how much she really _cared_ for Alicia. It was the truth, even though she had ended up hurting Alicia.

* * *

Alicia took her knife off the counter top in her room and got out of the house, still infuriated with Elyza. She walked to the training building and went down to the basement, walking towards her locker. She opened the rusty locker and wrapped up her hands. When she was satisfied with the tightness she closed the locker door with a sharp slam and walked over to the punching dummy, whose face came to about her height.

She breathed deeply in and out, assuming her fighting stance. She had been practicing her hand to hand combat skills ever since she found out that this island had the tiny gym. She struck the dummy, attacking it with series of single and one-two punches, as well as training her feet to dance back and forth between attacks.

She had broken a sweat and her biceps, hands, and wrists were beginning to hurt but she continued, thinking about her earlier fight with Elyza, letting the incident fuel her attacks against the dummy.

"I think it's a little unfair, don't you?" Elyza said suddenly, making Alicia jump slightly. Alicia turned around and saw the Australian leaning against the wall behind her, wearing her trademark leather jacket. Alicia didn't bother answering, she still was angry with Elyza, she turned back to the dummy and resumed her training, with extra strength put into each punch.

"I mean, it is, considering he doesn't even have arms." Elyza continued, ignoring Alicia's silence.

"Elyza," Alicia warned irritably.

"I'm sorry." Elyza sincerely. Alicia turned around and the girl actually seemed absolutely serious, standing in front of her with her arms open, no longer leaning against the wall. "I shouldn't have said what I did and now I want to make it up to you."

"Elyza, I swear to god if you plan on hitting on me then I swear I-." Alicia had said before Elyza interrupted her.

"No, I'm not flirting Alicia. I'm giving you permission to stop punching the dummy, which I know you are imagining my face on, and try the real thing." Elyza said. "It's a more effective way of training and I won't even protect myself against the first one, because I was being an asshole and I honestly deserve it."

Elyza caught her attention, Alicia turned around to face Elyza once again before assuming her fighting stance. Elyza was probably going to set down some ground rules before Alicia suddenly punched the Australian smack in the nose. Elyza went reeling back, pinching the bridge of her nose which had begun to bleed slightly.

"FUCK ME DEAD! I wasn't fucking ready! FUCK! FUCK THIS HURTS! OW, FUCKING HELL!" Elyza yelled out, her voice bouncing off the basement's concrete walls. She was leaning against the wall and was holding her nose which had turned beet red and began bleeding profusely.

"Oh my god, are you ok?" Alicia said, approaching Elyza to try to get Elyza to move her hands away. Alicia didn't regret punching her, she said it herself, she deserved it. But that wouldn't stop her from helping the girl out who was swearing more than any sailor ever known.

"Yeah, I'm fucking FINE. JUST PEACHY. FUCK. FUCK. FUCKITY FUCK FUCK. Oh my god that's a lot of blood. Jesus FUCKING Christ. Alicia am I gonna die?" Elyza yelled, she tried hard not to direct any anger at Alicia, who was still trying to get Elyza to move her hands.

"Move your fucking hands away and then maybe I can see!" Alicia demanded and Elyza did as she was told. Wincing slightly as Alicia gently prodded the more swollen areas. It didn't look broken but Alicia was no doctor. The swelling was unreal and the blood had seeped down onto her jacket. "You'll live you big baby, but we need to get you checked out by Jon anyway. See if it's broken."

"Who?" Elyza asked.

"Jon, he's our resident doctor over here. You haven't met him yet. But he's an asshole." Alicia explained truthfully.

They got Elyza up with minimal whining and took her to the doctor's office where Jon practically lived. Alicia hated him. He was an asshole, who used his intimidating stature and strength to get what he wanted. He was rude, narcissistic and on more than one occasion sexist. Alicia shuddered to think about how Elyza would respond to him. She wasn't afraid that she couldn't take him. Hell, even with a broken nose Elyza would be able to take him to the ground, although she still didn't understand where all that strength came from in the Australian. But she was certain that if Jon acted his normal self then they would definitely fight—most likely to the death. Alicia was only afraid that Elyza would end up being blamed and kicked off the island for it.

Alicia interrupted Elyza's slew of swears to warn her. "Elyza, I'm not kidding, he's an absolute pain in the ass but no matter what he says you can't attack him. He has influence with my family and he will get you kicked off the island."

"Alright, fine." Elyza grumbled, resuming her incoherent swearing.

They walked over to the medical building and entered, it was small and Alicia led them to his office where they could hear him shuffling around inside.

Alicia knocked, and then opened the door. Jon gave them both a sour look, as Elyza made her way to an examination chair and he didn't even bother stopping what he was doing. He was really tall, definitely over six feet and very muscular. He had the worst case of resting bitch face Elyza had ever seen.

"Jon, this is Elyza." Alicia said, trying to get him to stop what he was doing and help.

"My name is Doctor Jon Barges Thorne." Jon put down his folders and walked over to them. "What happened to your nose?" He asked immediately, moving to touch Elyza's nose who winced and hissed at his insensitive touch.

"We, uh, got a little too aggressive while training." Alicia fumbled to explain.

"Hmm, I see, well it's not broken, but I will give you something for the swelling." He said, pawing through his medication drawer. "This is why I tried to fight your father's recommendation for training. Plus, I thought that you weren't supposed to train today. You're really only supposed to train with my supervision. You know that. But here we are. You train once without me and you end up nearly breaking this girl's nose." He said, irritated.

"Her name is Elyza, and I needed to train to blow off steam." Alicia defended, tired of dealing with him.

"Oh, oh. I see. Well the next time you need to 'blow off steam', consider taking Midol instead of breaking a girl's nose." He said, eyeing Alicia up and down who scoffed at him. Elyza's mouth was hanging open. Alicia was right. He was an absolute asshole.

"Excuse you." Elyza bit out, grabbing his attention. " _This girl's_ name is Elyza. And She just loves beating up misogynistic dickheads. So, DON'T give her a reason to today. Alright? Forget the meds. We're leaving now. Let's go Alicia."

Elyza took Alicia's hand and hopped off the examination chair, leaving the room angrily while Jon was just fuming. They left the building and Elyza was still fuming by the time that they got out into the sunlight. Alicia's mouth was still hanging open.

"Elyza! That was awesome!" She said, Elyza just nodded, still swearing under her breath, and Alicia couldn't determine whether the target was her nose or Jon.

"He was being a fucking shitfaced, Fuckwitted, misogynistic, wanker." Elyza said, running out of curses that made sense. She was practically seething.

Alicia laughed at the creative name for the asshat of a man. She then brushed shoulders with Elyza as they walked back to the gym. She leaned her head on Elyza's shoulder. "Thanks for saying what you did." Alicia said softly against Elyza's shoulder.

"No problem, just don't expect me not to stab him the next time I see him." Elyza said, trying not to react to the fact that Alicia was leaning on her like the adorable little angel that she was.

"If you still want to, we can train. I won't try to punch your face again." Alicia said. "Mostly I just want to continue to disobey him by training without him."

"Ok, just let me wash off the blood and then I can teach you how to floor him the next time you he acts like a douche-waffle." Elyza said, smiling at Alicia.

* * *

Elyza cleaned up quickly, taking off her jacket to wash it off in the sink before putting it back on so that if anyone walked in they wouldn't see her scars. It was hot, but it was worth not being thrown off the island. The swelling reduced dramatically and Alicia managed to find a small band aid to put on her severely bruised nose. Elyza immediately set down the no face rule for their training. She dragged out a large mat she found to practice take downs.

Elyza first showed Alicia where to place her hands and what to do. She then demonstrated on Alicia but tried to be as gentle as possible. Alicia didn't get hurt, although it did happen quicker than she expected. Alicia tried several times to do it on Elyza, the first few tries weren't successful but Elyza had corrected her enough where she could do it correctly about 50% of the time. Soon they were battling to see who could get around to flip the other, and racing back up to stand whenever one of them would be successful. Alicia learned fast and within no time she could put Elyza on her ass with ease. They went back and forth, laughing madly as they danced around each other, trying to get the other. Elyza had a huge advantage in brute strength, but Alicia was much faster. They were equally matched and they spent what seemed like hours trying to one-up the other. They went beyond the flipping technique, sometimes Elyza would just pick Alicia up off the ground, screaming and laughing to put her down.

They were tired, they had just wrestled for about half an hour. They had to keep their eyes off of each other, because if they met each other's gaze they would burst into a laughing fit.

"I got you that one time! When I ducked under you and bent your knee to make you fall!" Alicia defended, giggling hysterically.

"Yeah, but how many times could I just pick you up to win? I think I won Alicia, no doubt about it. You have to rely on the element of surprise. I don't." Elyza bragged and Alicia narrowed her eyes.

"That's because you're so easy to catch off guard." Alicia said, crawling closer.

"Am not." Elyza said, flipping a blonde lock out of her sweaty face.

"Are to." Alicia said, sitting right in front of her, not a foot and a half away from her face.

"Oh yeah?" Elyza dared, "Prove it."

Alicia jumped at Elyza, pounced really, expecting to knock Elyza back. But Elyza had predicted the move and caught her, standing up to hold her above the ground. Alicia had her legs wrapped around Elyza's middle and Elyza was holding her ass to keep her there. Elyza taunted her, practically dancing.

"I told yooouuu! I know all your tricks Alicia." Elyza taunted.

Alicia smiled devilishly. "Not all of them." In one swift move, she leaned forward and took Elyza's face in her hands, capturing her lips with her own. In a quick, chaste kiss that couldn't have lasted more than half a second. It had exactly the effect that she had expected. Elyza let go of Alicia in shock and Alicia had held onto her, so that they both fell to the mat. Alicia was laughing hysterically, but Elyza wasn't. Elyza looked absolutely horrified and blushed feverously.

Elyza hadn't expected that from Alicia. But maybe that meant she would expect this either.

Elyza suddenly moved forward and grabbed Alicia's face, pulling the horrified girl towards her. She paused for a moment, making sure that Alicia was ok with it. But Alicia was way ahead of her. Alicia closed the distance, kissing Elyza again, this time with hunger and slight aggression. Elyza was more gentle, taking Alicia's hair and threading it through her fingers, taking her time. But Alicia growled for more, for Elyza to kiss back just as hard. And Elyza took the hint, licking Alicia's bottom lip for entrance. Alicia immediately opened her mouth wider, and their tongues were just as aggressive. Both of them moaned as their tongues met and their heads were moving forward and back with the kiss.

They lost track of time, it was as if it stopped around them. Elyza slowly leaned further and further forward until Alicia relented and fell back, dragging Elyza with her, her hands tightly grasping the front of her leather jacket. Elyza laid herself down onto Alicia slowly. Elyza was the gentler between the two. Alicia was aggressive and hungry, Elyza kissed just as hungrily but her hands were gentle, caressing softly, not pulling, tugging and grasping desperately like Alicia's were. By now Alicia was practically growling into Elyza's mouth and Elyza was moaning softly. Alicia pulled back gasping for air. Her eyes were dark and hungry before they turned to sudden horror as Elyza began to kiss her collar bone. She didn't actually think about the weight of what she was doing until she had already done it. She sputtered, trying to form words, pushing at Elyza's jacket and Elyza relented, pushing herself off of Alicia, sitting up. Alicia sat up before standing and pacing the room for a few seconds without a word. But she was obviously trying to form words, by the way her mouth was just opening and closing.

Elyza looked up at her with pure pain in her eyes. She knew what Alicia was thinking. That it was a mistake, that it was a terrible idea that got out of hand. But to Elyza, it had been one of the best moments in her life. She fought back the urge to demand Alicia to tell her what she was thinking, to talk to her. She kept quiet, still sitting on the ground.

"I, uh, I should go." Alicia said finally after remembering how to speak.

"Alicia, wait." Elyza said, getting up off the ground, but Alicia had already fled the room.

"FUCK." Elyza yelled into the empty basement, knowing that Alicia couldn't hear her. She was probably out of the fucking building by now.

That was too soon. That was way too soon for Alicia. She had only begun to question her sexuality. The first kiss was chaste, and in good intentions. It was just to distract Elyza. But the second, that one was different. And it was her fault. Yes, she paused to get consent from Alicia and Alicia even initiated it. But it was still her fault. She was the one who lunged forward because she couldn't get a hold of herself. She was so desperate and now she hurt Alicia, again.

Alicia crossed the grass to get back to the house. She didn't know where her shoes were or even remember taking them off but she sure as hell wasn't going back to get them. Storming off wasn't the best thing she could've done but in her eyes she had no other options. She wasn't ready for what had happened. A make out session was not what Alicia had intended but that's what it turned into.

Who knows what could've happened if she hadn't cleared her head earlier. They could even still be back there, ripping off clothes and—Alicia cleared her mind again. She needed time to breathe and think. Somewhere quiet and alone. She changed directions, heading towards the beach instead. She didn't know when the sun had set but the moon was full and risen. Its light gleamed off the surface of the water.

Alicia got to the beach, and she didn't know when but sometime along the way there she had started crying. She cried, collapsing and sitting in the sand, ripping up fistfuls of sand into her hand. She cried for several minutes off of pure emotion. No coherent thought, just emotion. Her mind was too much of a muddled emotional mess to form words more complicated than Elyza, kiss, and holy shit.

She sat there in the sand, crying and grasping at grains of sand to gain some type of grounding to the earth shifting under her.

* * *

Even as a child Elyza didn't remember crying this often. Each tear felt like acid, eating away at her soul. Before Alicia she hadn't cried since, since Casito, her ex. Since her mother threw her out, since her family disowned her. Since she lost everyone she had ever loved because of a few lines in a centuries old book.

 _ **A few years ago…**_

" _Come on baby, just do it, no one has to find it. It will be ours, and ours only." Casito said, playfully pointing the Polaroid camera at her that Elyza had received as a gift from her father._

" _Casito, what if my mum finds it? Then what? She would flip." Elyza said, concern embedded into her features. "She would hate me forever."_

" _But Elyza," Casito said seductively, reaching out to Elyza, crawling towards her on the bed. "What," a kiss on her lips, "If," a kiss on her cheek, "She," a kiss on her jaw, "Doesn't." a kiss on her neck. Elyza's head bent back, leaning away and allowing Casito access to her neck, which was already peppered with bruises that she told Casito not to leave, love bites that she would have to cover up. Again._

 _Casito kissed Elyza on the lips, pressing their chests together, before the flash of light burst through the room, and Elyza wanted to tear it up. It was the only tactile evidence of their relationship. But Casito refused, she was always the wild one, risking everything to be with Elyza._

 _ **A few months later…**_

 _Elyza walked home from school, turning onto her street. She heard yelling, at first, suspecting the neighbors, but no, it was coming from her house. She ran inside, worried about someone robbing their house or her mother being murdered for all she knew. The screams came from her room and she ran in to see what had happened. Her mother turned around her, seeing it was her daughter, her faced turned to anger, fury, hate. Elyza felt a hard slap across her face, she looked back to her mother, who pushed a polaroid photo in her face. It was the one, the photo that Casito had taken. The photo left nothing to the imagination concerning their relationship, they were kissing, in only their bras, and Elyza was covered in love bites. Elyza looked up at her mother, with tears in her eyes. She instinctively touched the scarf that covered up Casito's latest. Her mother saw this, and reached out, tearing the scarf off her so hard it ripped, it would surely leave bruises deeper than Casito's. Her mother's eyes widened further as she saw the love bites. Her mother covered her mouth, reeling back to sit on the bed, choking out a sob. Elyza was sobbing by now, pleading for her mother to let her explain. But she would not._

 _Elyza's mother ushered her out of the house, locking the door to leave her outside, open to the stares of curious neighbors. She heard her mother tearing through what was most likely her room. Elyza sobbed on the porch waiting ten minutes which instead felt like ten hours before her mother unlocked and opened the front door. Her mother's eyes were red and raw, Elyza tried to step inside, but she was blocked. Her mother just shoved out a box of her stuff and refused to let Elyza in. saying only, "You lied to me, you lied to your family and you lied to god. Don't ever come back."_

 _Elyza stayed on that doorstep for hours, waiting for her father to come home. But when he did, she saw that he had been drinking. Her mother let only him inside, explaining what their precious, pure daughter had become. He came out of the door, and Elyza had her stuff, ready to go back inside. But he did not let her inside. She could smell the strong alcohol on his breath as her yelled at her, calling her a lair, a sinner and a fucking dyke. He shook her by the shoulders, but she didn't let him for long. She ran, she ran and never looked back. When she got to a shady alleyway between to apartment buildings only then did she take stock of what she had. She looked into the box her mother had given her. It had many of her belongings, but at the top was the polaroid, ripped diagonally in two, separating them and severing Casito's head._

 _It was a week before she dared contact Casito, it turned out Elyza's mother had told Casito's, and that Casito's parents were sending her away to an all-girls Catholic school. Elyza didn't even get to say goodbye. Elyza eventually found work, making enough money to first pay for food, and then, after years, for a ticket to America, land of the free. On some cold, cargo boat ride to Mexico, one that she was skeptical that she would survive. And then to the US with tens of other illegal immigrants looking all for their own freedom. She could only hope she would be free._

Elyza wiped away her tears. She would not cry about those times. No. Not Anymore.

Elyza picked herself off the floor of the basement, trying to ignore the overwhelming desire to collapse on that mat and to not rise again. But she had risked too much with Casito, and did the same with Alicia. Here she was, yet again, failing, after taking a risk. She took a risk with Casito, taking that picture. And she had taken a risk with Alicia, leaning in for a second kiss. She could only hope the results wouldn't be just as disastrous.

* * *

 **A/N: Alright, this is my longest chapter yet, and for the first time we have some lexark kisses, yay. There are two tiny easter eggs (For Easter! happy sorta late Easter everyone!) here for people who pay attention, I will be revealing what they were in the next chapter so make sure you review telling me your guess or if you found them before reading the next chapter. It took me a while to write this one and Elyza's memories were an especially emotional thing for me to write. I thought about it for quite a while.**

 **Much love to you all!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey guys, so, about the Easter eggs I left for you guys. No one reviewed that they figured it out but I'm sure some of you did, but here they are. There were two Easter eggs, both being that I took names and scrambled them to make the character names.**

 **CASITO: - Costia**

 **I alluded to this with the polaroid being ripped up (Severing her head) and in a box. Sound familiar?**

 **JON BARGES THORNE: - Jason Rothenberg**

 **I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. I needed a character to play the part of an absolute homophobic, sexist asshole and I thought, "Why not use the name of someone the entire fandom already hates?" Personally, I think its brilliant. Leave me a review of what you think of your Easter eggs!**

 **Anyways, that's it. I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

 **Much love to you all!**

* * *

Alicia cleared her muddled thoughts, it had been about an hour since she collapsed onto the sand. She had cried extensively, and had nothing left to cry about, let alone the energy to do so. She was tired, it was getting late but she would have to stay up for days for her physical condition to match her current mental condition. Tired couldn't cover it. She was exhausted, with analyzing, deducing, creating scenarios and just thinking about anything Elyza. And yet, she couldn't stop, only sleep would –hopefully—be able to take away the pain of thinking about her, if only for a moment. She got up, brushed the sand sticking to her legs, and the tears to her cheeks. She started towards the house, still thinking.

She didn't know what she wanted to happen, but what she did know, was that whatever she ended up wanting to do, was her choice. Fully and completely. Elyza was always, and painfully considerate in that way. But honestly, Alicia didn't want kindness or empathy if it meant that it was her decision completely, it was too much pressure. She didn't know what she wanted, at all. The only time she was sure about what she wanted was when she made the decision to kiss Elyza, it was her only moment of complete clarity, or absolute loss of thought, those feelings were too similar to tell. She was weak, and Elyza was so strong. She was killing Elyza slowly, she knew that. She wasn't blind to the pain behind Elyza's eyes, to the way she hesitates around her, to the way she tears her eyes away from her to make her feel un-objectified. In that way, Elyza was strong, she could handle herself and any… urges, around Alicia. Alicia couldn't. And she hated herself for it.

She walked into the house, she was so lost in her thoughts that she almost didn't notice the figure curled up on the couch. Of course. It was Elyza. Being the fucking gentleman yet again, by solving the issue of their sleeping arrangements without being asked. She didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve such a considerate and caring person as Elyza. Elyza deserved better. Elyza deserved better than a questioning teenager with zero self-control. She heard a tear she didn't realize escaped, fall onto the cold hard wood floor as she looked at the sleeping, but not peaceful Australian. The blonde had tear stained cheeks and would shiver every couple of seconds like hiccups. Alicia had to help, somehow, she went upstairs, retrieving a blanket from a closet in the hallway. She went back downstairs, trying not to make any noise, and approached the couch tentatively. She was worried that the woman might wake if she wasn't careful. She paused, taking a look at her before draping the soft blanket over the woman, who didn't wake, but her shivers slowly did become fewer and fewer in between. Alicia resisted the powerful urge to kiss her good night and walked up the stairs and into her room, proceeding to fall into the bed and softly cry herself to sleep after the emotional roller coaster of a day.

* * *

Elyza woke with a start, looking around the still darkened room, which she realized was the living room of the household. She stretched, feeling and hearing had back pop from sleeping on the couch instead of their, no, Alicia's bed. She had spent quite a while crying in that smelly basement of a gym room. And she came to a decision. She couldn't afford to go on with this with Alicia, to be reeled in and thrown back every time. She promised herself to put some distance between the two of them, both physically and emotionally. It was what she did best, ignoring her festering emotional wounds and completely avoiding addressing issues head on.

She couldn't say it wasn't effective before. It did keep her emotions in check, stable, predictable. But that was only because she refused to entertain any. Good or bad. Alicia needed time and space, now more than ever, and the only way Elyza could manage to give her that without falling apart, was to shut down. So any thought about… her, would have to be crushed, put down, locked away forever. Some might've said it was mentally unhealthy, but it kept her alive thus far.

Elyza got up off the couch gingerly and the blanket she didn't realize was draped across her, fell to the floor. She did remember looking for one right before bed but she couldn't remember ever finding one. She ran several scenarios and realized the most likely possibility was not one that she wanted to entertain. Alicia.

She pushed back the thoughts that followed, but not with any ease. She distracted herself with breakfast –a small apple she had found in the kitchen—and munched away at it, trying not to think about anything. Because anything could be linked back to… her. Even the redness of the apple reminded her of Alicia's sweet, sof-, no. No, no, no, no, no.

She closed her eyes, trying to avoid looking at anything that would stimulate the sinful thoughts that were Alicia. But when she closed her eyes, she only saw her, smelled her, remembered the soft aggression of her lips, the softness of her skin. No. Stop. Holy shit this was going to be harder than anything Elyza had ever done. But she had to do it. It was the only salvation for her sanity.

* * *

Alicia woke up, felt the tracks of dried tears and began crying again. Quietly, sullenly, wanting to collapse further into the bed and stay there forever.

Weak. That's all she could think about. She wasn't strong like Elyza; she couldn't stop or even begin to control the emotions overwhelming her. She wanted to block out any thoughts about Elyza, but she knew better than that. She knew it would only cause further pain in the end. No one could destroy their emotions without loss of all feeling. Block them temporarily? Yes. But destroy them? Avoid them? No way in hell. Alicia wouldn't even consider it.

She had emotions. She fell for Elyza without being mentally ready for it. And now? She had to deal with the emotions that followed, however unpleasant. She was going to address the pain and suffering. She could at least have strength that way.

She wiped away her tears and tried to think through what had happened, and what she wanted to happen now. She was attracted to Elyza, that much was obvious. And most probably, if she really thought about it, the entire female population.

Bisexual.

Probably her best bet. She couldn't deny that she loved matt, she loved him with everything she had, while she had him. But Elyza was different. Maybe it was a difference in her sexual attraction between boys and girls or maybe it was just the fact that the genders were different. They are attractive in different ways. They love in different ways.

The subtle, and the not so subtle differences between genders amounted to huge complications for Alicia. Because it meant that she would have to dissect her attraction meticulously and see the differences to learn more about her sexuality. To her, which gender was more attractive? Which was more desirable dating material? To marry? To fuck? To love? But the simple answer, Alicia found, was that it was complicated, because it depended on the person, not their gender.

Alicia thought that she had found some sense of clarity in that moment. Clarity that she hadn't had for days. That was the answer. Alicia had been so focused on what it meant to be attracted to two separate genders that she hadn't even realized that it didn't even matter. That being bi meant just that. Gender. Was. Irrelevant. Only relevant when one considered tiny, frivolous details about attraction in relation to either gender.

Bisexual. Alicia thought with finality, and a strong sense of relief. It wasn't over, there were other things to consider and debate within herself but that could all come later, with time, and –hopefully—experience. For now, she was bi, and very happy to be so. She smiled to herself, sinking into her pillows in the utter bliss of epiphany and clarity.

* * *

Elyza left the house, deciding to go for a run. Why? Because maybe sweat would conquer sin.

It didn't. It helped, but it still required a large amount of mental effort to not feel. She just kept running faster and faster, from the house to the beach, and back again, and again, and again. She was a talented runner, and the apocalypse only seemed to assist in her physical fitness. Yes, despite her diet of mostly prepackaged foods with 70% sugar, she was in the best condition of her life. And only getting stronger. She had a toned, strong body that was ready to run a six-minute mile on the drop of a hat. Her body was one of the few things to be proud of when she moved to L.A., and she didn't doubt that it had to be one of the reasons she was able to find work so quickly. If not for her scars, she would probably currently be wearing less clothing.

That was proving to be a little bit of an issue on this island. Having to wear the leather jacket all the time. Not that she didn't like the jacket, it was fucking awesome. Useful for picking up chicks, and generally gave off a badass aesthetic. But wearing it every day, in this heat? Not fun. But she had to protect herself from her scars being shown to Alicia's group. They seemed like nice people, -well, those that could even be considered people and not living breathing medically trained assholes—but something told her that they also seemed like if they ever found out then it would end in death by fire. She pushed away the ugly thought, and ran harder, as fast as she could. Her heart was thumping, legs pumping.

After a few more laps, she had run enough. She was surprised that she had even managed to stumble her way to the side of the path before her knees buckled. She was breathing so hard she was afraid her lungs would pop. Wait, was that even a thing? Could that happen? Probably not, but her heart was also a point of concern. She could hear the thumping loud in her ears and feel the blood pumping in her limbs.

She laid herself down onto the cool, green grass. Praying that no one would see her in this state, because they would surely send her to the asshat for a checkup. She realized then how much her back hurt, that was her one weakness. She had a semi-sensitive back that couldn't handle sleeping on a couch indefinitely, she groaned, knowing it would mean that she would have to ask Alicia to sleep with her again. She just let herself lay there, listening to her own heartbeat.

* * *

Alicia had gotten dressed, washed her face and went down stairs to look for Elyza. She didn't have anything to say to her, she just wanted to see her and how she was handling the situation. But when she descended the stairs she realized she must've left. The fact that Alicia didn't know where Elyza was, scared the shit out of her. It was an irrational fear, they were on an island for god's sake, but it still made her anxious.

She knew that their interactions must've been just as painful for Elyza, maybe even more so. After all, all she had done was drag her along with playfulness and even kisses, only to pull away every time it got serious. She knew her sexuality, but she wasn't sure that she was ready for a relationship with Elyza, but she was definitely ready to mend their friendship.

She left the living room and went outside to look for her, and sure enough, Elyza was far off, focused on the ground as she ran, not seeing her. Alicia put a hand up to block out the sun, and as soon as her vision focused back onto the blonde, she saw that she wasn't doing so well. Stumbling more than running at this point, Alicia would've laughed if she didn't see Elyza barely make it to the side of the path before collapsing. Alicia felt a rush of fear flow through her and into her legs. Without even thinking, she was running, Elyza was about a hundred meters away but she managed to get there amazingly fast. She wanted to pass out herself when she reached her.

"ELYZA!" Alicia yelled when the collapsed Australian was within earshot.

Elyza turned her head slightly and struggled to open her eyes. She cursed to herself silently when she realized it was Alicia, mostly out of embarrassment. Elyza tried to get up, but it was harder than she thought, she almost fell back down when a hands wrapped around her forearms, pulling her up. Elyza felt light headed but did manage to open her eyes to look at the girl in front of her.

"Oh, hey Alicia, what's up?" Elyza slurred slightly, hoping that she sounded cool and collected, but she doubted it.

"Elyza." Alicia warned, not wanting to put up with her bullshit. "What the fuck just happened?"

"Language, princess." Elyza said, cheekily smiling at Alicia's scowl. "I just, I just wanted to go for a run." Elyza said, trying to pull away from Alicia's grasp but Alicia wouldn't have it. She only held on tighter, and Elyza, feeling dead from running too hard, couldn't do much to resist.

"You nearly passed out. That's not how you're supposed to run, Elyza." Alicia scolded her, while looking her up and down, looking for any injuries.

"Sorry." Elyza said finally, she didn't know what else she could say to satisfy Alicia's worry. Worried. Alicia was worried about her. Elyza couldn't help smiling like she was drunken fool at that thought and Alicia took it as a sign of heatstroke. She took her arm and wrapped it over her shoulder to help her back to the house.

"Why didn't you stop running?" Alicia asked, while marching back towards the house, half dragging Elyza along.

Elyza was struggling to keep up with Alicia and didn't want to answer that question, knowing that if she answered truthfully then Alicia might pity her even more. She didn't want pity from Alicia, only love.

Alicia was going to ask again but she heard a crack and realized that Elyza's it was Elyza's back that cracked when Elyza almost doubled over in pain.

"Elyza!" Alicia said, leaning down, close to Elyza's pain-stricken face. Elyza was panting again as waves of pain rolled up and down her back. She definitely pulled something. She grimaced and tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she slowly stretched her back up to a normal standing position, gritting her teeth in pain. "Elyza, what did you do to your back?" Alicia said, one hand on Elyza's stomach and the other on her lower back for support.

"The couch." Elyza managed to get out before continuing to walk towards the house, desperate to lay down and recover.

Alicia understood immediately, it wasn't enough that she had caused Elyza mental pain, but now physical? Just great. She felt like a terrible person, she was desperate to make it up to Elyza somehow. She remembered her eighth grade obsession with learning how to give professional massages. She was pretty good at it too. She could do that if Elyza would let her. "When we get to the house, I can try to relax your muscles, they're probably cramping because you pulled something." Alicia explained, remembering what she had learned so long ago.

Elyza looked up at Alicia's face, she was offering to give her a massage for no reason. Could she be any cuter? Elyza mentally chastised herself for that last thought, but nodded in response. She picked up the pace, suddenly having a _very_ good reason to get back to the house as soon as possible.

Alicia smiled, happy that she would be able to help in relieving any of Elyza's pain, especially knowing she had a part in it. She spent the rest of the walk back to the house trying to remember different techniques and deciding which would and wouldn't be good for Elyza. Elyza was also quiet for the trip back, trying to control her ridiculously large amount of excitement.

* * *

They got to the house shortly and Alicia did stop supporting Elyza but she refused to let go of her altogether, holding her hand even as they went up the stairs. Mostly because she still afraid Elyza might collapse again. They went up to their room and only then did Alicia let go. She opened the door and sighed while Elyza walked passed her and gingerly laid herself face down onto the bed. Elyza was powerless to prevent the moan that escaped her lips when she finally laid down, her pain dulled immensely. Not only that, but it smelled like Alicia too. Alicia smiled at Elyza's bed bliss. She walked over to her and Elyza perked up, remembering what Alicia had offered. Elyza sat up, grimacing at the pain in doing so, but managed to sit upright. Alicia grabbed Elyza's jacket, trying to help her out of it and she saw Elyza flinch and she paused. It took a second for Elyza to realize that Alicia was trying to undress her for the massage before she started taking off the jacket herself.

Elyza shuddered slightly as the cool air of the room hit her skin. She was wearing her white tank top and Alicia gestured for Elyza to lay face down on the bed. Elyza did so immediately, crossing her arms and burying her face in a pillow. Alicia gave no warning to Elyza before she climbed up onto the bed, straddling Elyza's ass. Elyza exhaled sharply, not expecting it but didn't make any other sound to discourage her. Alicia smiled at the sound and decided to warn Elyza before diving into the massage by simply placing her hands on Elyza's lower back. Elyza made the tiniest sound of contentment as a response and Alicia began. She started out slowly and softly, massaging muscle up and down and watched as Elyza's breathing got deeper and moaning slightly whenever she would address the pain in her lower back.

Elyza was impressed, Alicia made a damn good masseuse. Her movements were soft and gentle but deliberate. Sometime about twenty seconds in, Elyza had no more control over her noises. It just felt so fucking good. She never had been massaged before and now she understood why some people absolutely loved it.

Alicia tried to ignore her own heartbeat picking up. The moans from Elyza were slowly getting more and more frequent. Alicia tried more pressure on Elyza's more troubled areas and Elyza's moans only deepened in bliss. Alicia wasn't equipped to handle a gorgeous woman moaning under her. Alicia's eyes flitted to the hem of Elyza's tank top and without trying to stop herself, she suddenly, but gently, yanked up the shirt and proceeded massaging the exposed skin. Elyza's eyes shot open and she heard herself make a sharp intake of air as she felt Alicia's cool hands dance across her bare skin. Her breathing hitched when Alicia went back to the spot on her lower back that had been bugging her for forever. Her heartbeat started thumping loud in her chest as Alicia got seemingly twitchy and was shifting on Elyza's butt. If Elyza didn't know any better, she would've guessed that the girl was just itching to roll her hips against her. Alicia felt a building of desire and wanted nothing more than to rip off Elyza's remaining clothes, followed by her own. When her breathing hitched as Elyza shifted under her, she decided it was enough. She climbed off of Elyza and tossed Elyza her leather jacket.

Elyza couldn't help but smile as she got up, pulled down her shirt and began putting on her jacket. She saw how bad Alicia was blushing and trying to avoid eye contact. Elyza knew if she shifted under the girl then she would definitely get a reaction. But if she knew it would be stopping, then she wouldn't've done it. She was so close to getting Alicia to try and do something about her little twitching fit. She knew Alicia was getting excited as soon as she started twitching on top of her and her movements became more and more aggressive, not that Elyza minded. Elyza had put two and two together and realized that it was probably building sexual tension and shifted to get a reaction. Alicia could deny it all she wanted, but Elyza heard her breath hitch. She heard it and now there was no taking that back.

Elyza couldn't help herself. "You look a little tense; would you like me to give you a massage?" Elyza asked, trying to look as innocent as possible. Alicia met her gaze and narrowed her eyes.

"No, I'm fine thank you." Alicia responded with a hint of irritation in her voice.

"You sure? I bet you could teach me how pretty quickly." Elyza tried, she desperately wanted an excuse to keep physical contact with Alicia.

"No, that's ok." Alicia said, she knew that if she couldn't keep her intentions innocent, then there was no way Elyza would be able to. If she let Elyza massage her, she was sure the massage would only last about half a minute before other activities ensued. But she didn't want meaningless sex, so she wasn't going to enable Elyza.

Elyza nodded, sad that she couldn't get her hands on Alicia but understanding why Alicia might've been hesitant to that idea. "Thank you, for the massage, I feel much better." Elyza admitted, stretching her born-again muscles.

Alicia would've responded with 'my pleasure' but that seemed a little too honest. "No problem." She said, and smiled. Elyza seemed to not be in pain anymore and she was glad she helped. Elyza got up and left the room, saying something about talking with Alicia's father. Alicia decided to go to her mother for advice about Elyza, her mother had been concerned for a while now and her mother usually knew what to do in stressful situations.

* * *

She walked down stairs and heard the front door shut as Elyza left the house. She saw her mother in the kitchen, eating a granola bar as her breakfast. Alicia approached her mother and slouched into a kitchen chair, Madison took the hint and sat in the chair next to her, waiting patiently for her daughter to explain what was bothering her.

"It's Elyza." Alicia explained finally and her mother laughed.

"Of course its Elyza, but what _about_ Elyza is the problem?" Her mother asked, smiling at her daughter who rolled her eyes. Their time on the island brought them closer than they had been in years.

"I think I really like her, and I think I might be ready for a relationship, but I don't know how to ask her. You know? It's not like I can invite her to go out for dinner and a movie." Alicia explained, pouting slightly. "Plus I don't know if it is a relationship she wants or something else."

Madison smiled, "You can't see it can you?" She asked, shaking her head.

"See what?" Alicia asked, curious.

"How much she cares about you. I talked to her about you two-." Alicia's groans of irritation cut off her mother for a second before she continued. "And she said she cared about you. Honestly? I believe her, she seems really happy every time you're around her…" Alicia considered this before her mother continued. "Oh, and what happened to her face? Her nose seemed kind of red. Did she fall or something?"

Alicia laughed, "No." Alicia took in a deep breath before admitting, "I punched her… we were having a fight and she wanted to apologize by allowing me to punch her without protecting herself." Alicia explained, and Madison's face was twisted in shock and slight confusion.

"Well then, alright..." Madison said, getting up and throwing the food wrapper in the trash. "… good punch." Madison said as she passed her daughter and Alicia laughed heartily at that.

* * *

Elyza left the house and went down to the docks where she knew she would find Alicia's step-father, she had grown to respect him and the feeling seemed mutual. When she got to the docks she sighed and rolled her eyes. Seeing that Dr. Fuckwit was down there, talking to Travis. Travis waved her over and the doctor seemed to have the same reaction upon seeing her. He walked away from Travis and back to his medical building, Elyza glared at him the entire way. She got to Travis and he was smiling friendlily as he greeted her. "Hey, Elyza."

Elyza just smiled in response, and he continued talking. "I was just talking to Jon and he was saying that his medical supplies were starting to dwindle, we might need to go out for a run on the mainland soon. Would you be willing to help?" He asked and Elyza perked up immediately, she was waiting for a chance to prove her worth for a while now and this seemed like a great way.

"Yes, definitely, you're welcome to use as many of my weapons for it too, it helps." She added, and he nodded.

"That would definitely help. I was also wondering if you could convince Alicia to come too, I know we had complications last time, but I want her to learn how to do this, plus with you there to keep an eye on her, I'm sure she'll be fine." HE explained.

Elyza had mixed feelings, she would love to get off the island for a couple days with Alicia but she hated the fact that it would expose Alicia to a very dangerous world. She decided to accept, she would just have to watch Alicia and keep her out of trouble. That couldn't be too hard, could it?

"Sure, I think she might actually want to come." Elyza said, and walked back to the house to tell Alicia.

* * *

She got back and found the girl in the kitchen, eating some kind of health bar.

"Hey, I was talking with your dad and he thinks that it's about time for a supply run soon." Elyza explained and Alicia nodded, understanding her so far. "He wanted me to try to convince you to come." Elyza said and Alicia considered the idea while Elyza continued talking.

"I would be there with you to watch your back, I will probably end up leading you guys too, since I know the mainland area better." Elyza said, and Alicia nodded on agreeance.

"If I get bit, I'll kill you." Alicia teased and Elyza didn't laugh, she didn't want to think about what would happen if Alicia got bit. She couldn't lose someone else, not after Casito. She had just begun to love again after all these years and she didn't think she would survive if Alicia died. Alicia picked up on Elyza's tense features and continued. "Elyza, it was a joke. You said it yourself, you'll be there to protect me, you've done it before and I trust you." Alicia said, and Elyza seemed to visibly relax. Elyza's heart swelled as she heard the sincere words from Alicia. Elyza smiled and Alicia smiled back.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

* * *

When Alicia woke the next morning, Elyza wasn't in bed. She groaned, if Elyza had moved to the couch while she was sleeping then her back would be killing her. She got up and stretched, walking around the room to wake herself up. She changed into new clothes and went downstairs to look for the blonde. She went downstairs to find that the girl wasn't sleeping on the couch either, and that familiar sense of panic filled her again. She tried to calm herself by breathing deeply and thinking reasonable thoughts. Was she going to react like this _every_ time that she didn't know the whereabouts of the Australian? Because she didn't like the feeling. It made her feel like tense, and vulnerable. She felt like the reasonable thing would be to run and find her, even though she was probably completely fine.

She left the house after she remembered that they would be going to the mainland today, and that Elyza probably left to help her dad prepare. She walked down the path to the docks, pulling her windbreaker tight around her, there was a cool breeze blowing. It wouldn't be long until winter, and even though the world had ended, Alicia still felt happy about the approaching holidays, instinct she supposed. Were they even going to celebrate Christmas? Was Elyza going to be there? Alicia tried to imagine Elyza with a reindeer headband, gulping down eggnog, and wearing a ugly, but fuzzy sweater. She could only imagine the innuendo opportunities that would arise if they managed to find mistletoe. She laughed quietly to herself, as she got closer to the docks, she could see the boat now and multiple people working. She looked closer to identify them, Travis, Elyza and who was- Oh shit. Jon.

She could see even from where she was how Jon stood tall and mighty, not bothering to lift a finger while Elyza helped Travis, constantly switching between friendly smiles with Travis and glares at Jon, who seemed to be talking at them. Alicia moved a little faster, if there was going to be an argument she wanted to be in range to hear it and maybe keep Elyza from tearing his head off. She finally got within hearing range. and Elyza looked up at her, her scowl dissolving instantly and smiling ear to ear, clearly happy to see the brunette. Jon saw this look on Elyza's face and traced her gaze to see Alicia, his face lightly scrunched up in suspicion, but he made no comment.

"Hey Alicia, ready to go?" Elyza called to her, and Alicia nodded, stuffing her hands into her jacket and walking onto the boat. Elyza finished whatever she had been doing to approach Alicia, holding out the same gun she had earlier, the 9mm Smith and Wesson. Alicia took it, more confident than the last time she had held it, feeling the weight and making sure the safety was on. Jon scoffed and Alicia looked up while Elyza turned around to look at the sour-faced doctor.

"Is that really a good idea? Handing a teenage girl a gun?" Jon asked condescendingly, his arms crossed, leaning against a rail on the boat. Elyza wanted nothing more than to step closer and push him over the rail. Not to kill him, just to make him fall in the water, maybe try to play it off like he fell. She decided against the idea and gritted her teeth. Alicia just cocked and loaded the gun quickly with ease, like she watched Elyza do many times, shooting him a challenging glance. He rolled his eyes in response.

"Just walk in front of me then, the last thing I need is to waste medical supplies because of a crappy shot." Jon said and Elyza seethed. Alicia just scoffed and led Elyza away before she tried to drown him.

"Travis, we're ready to go." Alicia called out, and Travis yelled some type of affirmative in response. Travis had learned how to pilot the boat after a few lessons from Bob and he was confident in his abilities to get them to the mainland. It was just them four, the reason for this wasn't a nice one but it was valid. The group had done some thinking about how they had been split up like that and they all agreed that no one wanted to risk losing the entire group to an incident like that again. So from now on, only half the group at the most was allowed to go on a run at a time.

Travis started the boat and Elyza detached the boat from the dock, untying the ropes and giving the ok sign to Travis to get going. The boat started off slow at first and everyone put on the god awful itchy orange life vests. Elyza sat down next to Alicia, pawing through the duffle bag of weapons, and Alicia watched as Elyza fished out the machete.

Elyza passed the time by sharpening her knives and machete and loading a few handguns for Travis and unfortunately Jon as well.

Alicia watched and waited quietly as the boat left the island and it soon became a foggy grey outline and then disappeared completely. Soon after, the outline of the vast mainland came onto the horizon, every few minutes getting more and more vivid with color and detail until she could make out individual buildings and streets. They approached the docks with reduced speed, and they parked the boat and everyone was literally itching to get rid of their life jackets. They tethered on the boat to the docks and jumped a few feet down from the side to the wood of the dock, unloading people and distributing weapons while Travis laid down some common sense ground rules, stay with the pack, knife before gun, aim for the head. All things that Alicia must have heard a hundred times, and yet, she's never had to kill one before, and didn't want to anytime soon.

They started off towards the city but first stopped in a tackle shop that was nearby. It had supplies for fishing, rods, lures, and rotting bait. They took a few diving knives, and deposited a couple rods with supplies into the boat before hitting the main city. They had done so with the hope that the island would be home to some consumable fish.

They walked along the streets quietly and efficiently, making good pace with almost no noise. Elyza was at the front, listening intently with eyes darting, machete drawn. Alicia was to her right and a little behind, looking over both shoulders and occasionally pressing against Elyza to keep the blonde updated with her presence. Jon was in the center, making the most noise with clumsy feet and even talking, giving Elyza suggestions on route like a backseat driver. Travis brought up the rear, occasionally having to shush Jon, which only earned an eye roll each time.

They were quiet, not attracting any infected, but that couldn't help the ones that were already in the street. Elyza was primarily the one to take care of them with her machete and Travis had to take a few that followed behind them. But besides that, they didn't have many issues, so far it was going well.

They decided quietly to head inland towards a business district that Elyza knew of. They went there and scanned through shop windows, but everything seemed cleaned out or locked with rotting biters inside.

After an hour scanning and occasionally entering a few stores that were nearly all cleaned out, they decided to take a break for water and planning, since they weren't progressing well. Jon kept blaming Elyza for their lack of success even though he had no better plan. Alicia was tuned out and looking at far off buildings while Elyza and Jon quietly fought and Travis tried to calm them.

Alicia zoned out at a building not too far off, but when she refocused she had a plan. That building was a storage center, where people with too much shit store it away for a fee. No one would think to clear that out when evacuating, would they? It probably had loads of supplies; tools, batteries, weapons, maybe even meds. Alicia broke their argument and suggested her plan. Elyza was fully on board, Travis thought it was a good idea but Jon was doubtful. Probably only to disagree with Elyza just for the hell of it.

They raided a hardware store for chain cutters, though this wasn't too easy since it wasn't exactly empty. But Elyza managed, killing them quickly and never letting her guard down. They got a couple of them for good measure and left for the storage unit.

It didn't take more that half an hour to get there, which was named "Chip's Premium Storage Facility". They door was open and even though it was still morning, it didn't take long of a walk into the facility before things got dark along the maze of units. Travis had a flashlight with him and they were lucky to discover that the very first unit they opened contained several flashlights, enough for each of them and they continued on. The first floor had large units but when they found the stairs they discovered there were eight levels. Jon thought it was a good idea to split up into two groups, one for the first floor and the other for the second. And although it was generally agreed that it wasn't the best of plans, he pitched a fit about how no one listened to him and eventually they had to agree to escape his whining. Alicia and Elyza went to the second floor,

Jon wanted to go with Alicia, claiming that a man should be with a woman when they considered who would split up with who, but he said it in a way that suggested he was talking about something else entirely. Especially when he had said, 'It's the natural way of things.'

It went right over Travis' head, but Elyza was fuming at the implication of his thinly veiled homophobia. It took Alicia a second to understand what he was talking about, but one look at Elyza told her everything she needed to know.

Elyza refuted his argument, saying, 'Gender doesn't matter, especially when you have a gun.' Travis agreed, Elyza was perfectly capable of defending Alicia. Jon wasn't happy about it, but eventually he stopped arguing but Elyza could've sworn she heard something said under his breath as he left, following Travis into the dark.

When he left, they went to the stairs and Alicia did her best to calm Elyza. They made it to the second floor and right off the bat, they found their first biter. Alicia knew the whole place couldn't have been infected free, but that didn't stop her fear or her surprise when they found the first one.

Elyza killed it with a small grunt and a sharp thwack, but she still heard the small whimper from Alicia, and reached her hand behind her, which Alicia took without hesitation. The small gesture calmed Alicia quite effectively as they made their way to a unit, Elyza was surprised by how well it helped her own nerves. She only let go of Alicia to use both hands on the chain cutting tool to open the door. The chain gave way surprisingly easily and they rolled up the door to inspect the insides of the unit with their flashlights. Their hands found each other, only letting go to pilfer through cardboard boxes. From their first unit they collected rope, and a first aid kit.

They moved on to the one beside it and Elyza opened it with a loud, echoing snap. Elyza dived right in, opening cardboard boxes, using her machete to slice open tape that wouldn't easily peel. Alicia watched as Elyza worked, holding the light at what Elyza was looting, and occasionally the beam would drift to Elyza's ass. Only because her hand got tired… Probably.

Alicia was always quickly corrected by the oblivious Australian who had no intention of working in the dark.

She had been meaning to talk to Elyza about their relationship, and how she was ready for something beyond platonic, even though their relationship never seemed like it had ever been platonic. They had been pushing the bounds of normal for gals who were _just_ pals for quite a while now, and it was only a matter of time before the next anti-platonic incident. It was starting to seem like it was almost against their will to fall for each other, that the only way that they had any self control would be if they kept their distance. But that was the last thing Alicia wanted to do.

She figured out she was bi, so now it was time to tell Elyza and kiss happily ever after. At least, that was the plan. But a pitch black storage facility that had more dust than oxygen didn't seem like the best place to proclaim love.

Wait. Love? Now that she thought about it, it sure felt like love. She cared for Elyza in a deeper way than just physically. She was protective of the shameless Australian. At this point, she even would put Elyza's happiness before her own. She wanted to be with her, and more than anything she wanted Elyza to say she felt the same way.

But She knew Elyza. She knew love wouldn't come easy for her. That she might not even be interested in romance at all. And that was one of the underlying issues that Alicia had with being in a relationship with this woman. Yes, the main issue was her sexual identity, but whether Elyza was capable of more than just sex in a relationship was also a pretty important issue.

She would just have to see then; confess her attraction and see how Elyza felt. Confess was maybe the wrong word. Elyza was definitely well aware of how she felt around her, she teased her all the time. But maybe a better word would be to affirm her attraction. Who knows? Maybe Elyza was head over heels in love with Alicia. But Alicia couldn't be sure.

Elyza turned back to Alicia, holding up a box of ammunition. Alicia took it and put it in the backpack they found, turning back to continue holding up the light for Elyza while she continued her search.

She became uncomfortable when she felt the hairs on her neck raise and her heart flutter ominously. Her breathing quickened and She scanned the area with her flashlight. When she saw nothing she resumed holding up the light for Elyza. That is, until she felt something cold and wet wrap around her ankle.

She screamed, trying to pull away but whatever it was had a tight grip on her. Elyza spun around immediately, just as Alicia lowered her light to focus on the rotting face of a biter, holding onto her ankle.

Elyza reacted immediately, raising her machete to whip it down, severing the thing's hand from its arm, making its grip on Alicia's ankle loosen and the hand fall onto the floor. Elyza then kicked at it's face, causing it to roll over and Elyza brought up the machete to smash it down onto its face, over and over again in a frenzied panic. Elyza didn't stop, even after it had lost many facial features to the blood soaked machete. The blood spatter covered Elyza, and Alicia had to put a hand on the woman's shoulder to get her to stop, pulling her into a hug and whispering assurances of her safety. Alicia was shocked by the infected, but the long dead corpse was not as troubling as Elyza's reaction. Alicia looked down at where the monster's face used to be, now it was just a mess of flesh and darkened blood. It was one of the most gruesome things she had ever seen before and she had to avert her eyes and concentrate on Elyza who was still panting. She shushed the woman, stroking her hair and holding her tightly to calm her.

Elyza had to count to control her breathing. As soon as she saw that thing she lost it. It had grabbed Alicia and that was enough to send her into overkill. That thing could have scratched her, or bitten Alicia. It could've killed the woman she loved.

Elyza's breathing slowed and eventually she pulled away, wiping her face clean from blood and regaining herself. They stood there for several moments, calming themselves.

Until they heard a groan.

Elyza readied her machete and they stepped out to look down the hallway. Their flashlights illuminated at least ten biters making their way to the source of the scream. They were maybe twelve feet away and both women stood frozen for a microsecond.

Alicia looked over to Elyza, who paused before she started yelling.

"COME ON YOU ASSHOLES! COME AND GET ME!" Elyza yelled out at them before pushing Alicia into the unit and pulling down the door to trap her inside, but away from the hungry, rotting corpses.

Alicia was frozen, listening to Elyza's yelling go further and further away. Taking the sounds of shuffling feet and moans with her. Alicia knew better than to bang on the door or raise it to expose herself to the monsters, which would waste Elyza's plan, but she didn't want to be stuck there while Elyza was being chased by those things. She felt helpless and she could do nothing but curl up into a ball and try not to hyperventilate. She tried telling herself that Elyza could handle herself, that she would be fine, but it didn't help at all. She cried, hoping that she wouldn't get hurt. That she would come back.

* * *

Elyza ran, as fast as she could.

She ran away from the horde, but she only ended up running past other biters, which meant she had to keep running. She grunted as she pushed herself against a wall and slide along it to avoid an unaware biter. She got past it but it soon groaned louder and shuffled after her. She panted as she turned left down a hallway, hoping to lose the bloody things. But when she turned the corner she was met by three biters that must have heard her coming. She turned back but the horde, as well as others were right behind her. She swung her machete and tried to push her way past the three biters. But there were complications.

Her machete snagged, stuck in the skull of a biter, and she dropped her flashlight in the struggle to get it out of it's head. She yanked and it came loose, but now she had no idea where to swing. She pushed forward and tried to avoid tripping over the fallen biter that she killed. She felt their hands grabbing at her, and there were too many for her to pull against. She tried to shrug her way out of her jacket to get away while pulling against them as hard as she could. She could feel their nails scratching into her back, which became more and more exposed as she wigged her way out of the jacket. It came loose and she felt many of them lose a grip on her and she tried to run again. But there were too many. Too many hands, pulling her away from safety. Her mind flashed with images of the last time that biters had gotten a hold of her. And how excruciatingly painful the bites and tearing had been. She felt one lean forward and bite down, hard into her right shoulder, it's teeth latching on and pulling away, tearing away her flesh like a rabid dog.

Elyza screamed out from the intense and excruciating pain. It made her want to drop to her knees, but she kept herself standing and tried even harder to pull away as she felt blood rush down her back. The images of the previous bites disappeared and only one thing filled her mind.

Alicia.

She saw her smiling and remembered the sweet sound of her laugh. Elyza felt her eyes water, and with new strength she pulled away from the mass of hands that were hungrily groping her body. After yanking away her body parts one at a time she got loose, and ran, even faster than before.

She ran as hard as she could, but she felt fatigue slowly creeping into her mind. She must have lost more blood than she first guessed. She turned left again to get back to the unit where she left Alicia. She bounded down the hallway, trying to ignore the pain and the feel of hot sticky blood running down her shoulder, with more flowing after every beat of her racing heart.

Her steps began to feel very heavy and the only thing keeping her moving was Alicia. The thought that she couldn't leave her like this. That she had to try harder than to just let herself die. She had to keep moving. For Alicia.

She turned another left and saw the unit where she left Alicia. She knew it was the right one because of the cut chain and the open door of the units to the right of it. She reached the unit and bent down to pull up the door and felt how weak she had become when she tried to yank it up. She did and Alicia stared at her, shining the flashlight to make sure she was human before pulling her inside and closing the door from the inside. It wasn't locked since they cut the chain, but at least biters didn't have the sense to pull up on the door.

Elyza felt dizzy from standing and pulling up the door and she almost collapsed onto Alicia, but they worried brunette caught her, and felt the hot blood that coated her back.

"Elyza, what happened?" She asked, turning her around to see the damage that the biter did to her shoulder. What she saw made her gasp in horror. Not only did the infected bite her, but it managed to tear away skin and even muscle. Blood was pouring from the wound and Alicia immediately moved to retrieve the first aid kit they found.

Elyza forcefully kept her legs straight and her eyes open. "How bad is it?" She asked, her words starting to slur.

Alicia didn't want to answer. She pried open the first aid kit and her fingers flied over the items inside while Elyza tried again, "Alicia, how bad is it?" She asked again, and Alicia stopped for a moment to look up at Elyza with tears in her eyes.

"Its bad." Alicia said, and hurriedly went back to getting supplies. She remembered that to stop bleeding you had to put pressure on the wound. so she grabbed a cloth from the kit and turned to Elyza.

"I need to stop the bleeding, so this is going to hurt." Alicia said and Elyza nodded. She cringed as she heard Elyza's hiss of pain when she pushed against the wound with the formerly white cloth.

Elyza leaned against stacked up cardboard boxes, and within minutes she felt the blood completely soak the cloth. With one hand she retrieved another and placed it over the first. She could hear Elyza's breathing become shallow and she saw her eyelids flutter, so she talked to her, telling her to stay awake.

After a few more minutes she pulled back the cloth and saw that the bleeding hadn't stopped completely, but it was slow and much less of it. It was enough for a bandage so she continued to apply pressure with one hand, using the other to sort out supplies for the wound.

She felt Elyza's knees buckle and Elyza could barely keep her eyes open. She slowly guided Elyza to lie face down on the ground, with her face facing away from the wound and told her to stay awake, which she weakly nodded to. She reached for the knife at her hip and used it to cut away what was left of her tank top. she then reached for the small bottle of hydrogen peroxide.

"Elyza, I have to clean the wound with hydrogen peroxide, so its gonna burn like hell." Alicia said softly, leaning down to tell her. and Elyza hesitated before nodding. Alicia offered Elyza a small bit of cloth to bite down on and Elyza took it into her mouth. Alicia unscrewed the cap and prepared herself. Elyza nodded once and Alicia slowly poured a small amount to cover the wound. Elyza moaned in pain and gritted her teeth against the cloth as her wound fizzed. Alicia couldn't stop her tears of sympathy for Elyza. She hated to see her in such agony, but she had to keep moving.

After the fizzing died down she dabbed gently at the wound and cut a piece of cloth as a bandage and placed it on, using the medical tape to secure it down. Alicia leaned forward and realized Elyza had passed out from the pain. She checked to see that she was still breathing and had a steady pulse.

She took a deep breath and cleaned up the mess, stopping to constantly check on Elyza's condition. When she finished, she laid on her side beside Elyza to watch her sleep to make sure she didn't stop breathing. She cried softly and stroked Elyza's blood stained hair.

She had no choice but to lay there and watch her, not knowing whether she had done enough to keep her alive.

"I'm sorry." Alicia said softly, close to Elyza's face, event though she probably wouldn't be able to hear her anyway. "I'm sorry that I was so stupid to keep stringing you along. I'm sorry that I didn't want to talk about my sexuality. But I know now… what I am… but really that shouldn't have mattered. It shouldn't have mattered because you don't need a label to love someone."

Alicia paused and took in a shaky breath as she continued, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I was so caught up in the terrifying realization that I wasn't straight, that I forgot that you weren't either." She laughed grimly, before continuing as her voice broke. "I was selfish to only consider my own attraction, and to pursue it whenever I felt like it, kissing you without any consent, while you _always_ had the decency to _never_ overstep your bounds. I was basically fucking with your emotions because I only ever considered mine. So, I'm so sorry."

Alicia sobbed into the rough carpet. "Elyza, I am so sorry for all of these things and more. But now you have to wake up so I can tell you what I should've told you a long time ago. So I can say I'm sorry for all the pain I caused. Because I didn't need to know anything more than that I wanted you. That I loved you, and I still do Elyza. Just wake up so I can tell you, please." Alicia pleaded softly and sobbed some more. She watched Elyza breath slowly in and out, trying to control her own breathing. She stroked her hair and traced her old scars, trying to express her love, solely though her touch, since for now, that was all she could offer.

* * *

She jerked up when she heard the door roll up, and grasped the handle of Elyza's machete, ready to kill whatever threatened them. Alicia sighed softly in relief when she saw that it was just Travis and Jon. Travis and Jon both had a shocked expression on their faces, but for different reasons.

"Is she okay?" Travis asked, stepping closer while Jon stepped away.

"Travis, don't. Look at her, that's a bite. She could turn at any minute!" Jon yelled at them, glaring at Alicia, who only returned the gesture with twice as much fury. "Look! She has so many bites all over her! She lied to us Travis!" Jon yelled again, and Travis took a step back, while Alicia got up, standing between them and the peaceful Elyza.

"No, wait. Those are scars. Their probably years old, I think somehow she's immune." Alicia tried to explain to Travis, whose eyes seemed conflicted.

Travis looked like he was going to say something before Jon interrupted. "You think she _probably_ won't kill us all? Can you hear yourself?" Jon spat out and Alicia glared at him, ready to tear off his face if he took even a single step forward.

"Jon, I think she's right. Those are scars." Travis stepped forward to put a hand against Elyza's back, tracing one of the scars and Alicia saw Elyza's back muscles twitch slightly. "She doesn't even have a fever. Alicia could be right." Travis said.

Jon seethed. "You want to risk all of our lives for a dyke?" Jon spat out and Alicia jumped at him, trying to claw at his face, while Travis held her back, trying to get her to calm down enough to stop growling at Jon.

"SHE GOT HURT TRYNG TO SAVE ME! SHE RISKED HER LIFE TO MAKE SURE THAT MINE WAS SAFE!" Alicia yelled at Jon's face and Jon faltered for a second before returning to his scowl. "You can insult her all you want Jon, but nothing you say will change the fact that she's the bravest person I've ever met and you're nothing but a whiny little _bitch_."

Travis put up his hands to calm them both. "Jon, we can go downstairs and get the supplies we found to help Elyza. If Alicia is right, then Elyza deserves some kind of attempt to save her life." Travis said, keeping them separated.

"And what if she's wrong? If we leave her up here with that monster, she won't have the heart to end it's life." Jon said, glaring at Alicia.

Alicia could feel her face turning hot, and she saw red. How dare he refer to Elyza as a monster, let alone a dyke. What gave him the fucking right to insult someone who constantly made sacrifices that endangered her own life. From the beginning, She could've ignored Alicia's waves for help and sped off on her bike. But no. She stopped to help a total stranger. Jon had no right to insult her, Elyza was ten times the man he was.

"Then we can stay up here." Travis said, and handed Alicia Elyza's machete. "We opened up a unit not far from the stairs, you should be able to find it and get medication, as well as some bandages. Hurry." Travis said, and Alicia ran to the stairs.

She bounded down the steps and jumped the last four before opening the door to get down to the first floor.

She saw several open units and ran to the first. She quickly scanned for almost a minute, but saw nothing medical. So she moved on to the next one and repeated the process, pawing through boxes with no results. She was getting frustrated as she went into the third. But then she saw the pile of medical supplies and grabbed at the nearest bag to stuff them all inside. She yelped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

She turned around and raised the machete, ready to bring it down on whatever touched her.

She realized that it was Travis. She lowered her machete. "What are you doing here?" She asked quickly, calming down.

"Jon said you might need some help figuring out what meds would help with excessive bleeding." He said before Alicia's face drained of color.

Alicia was so worried about Elyza that in that moment she wasn't mad at her step-father for believing Jon's lies.

She closed up the bag and ran even faster to the stairs, with Travis right behind her. "Alicia what's wrong?!" He demanded while she ran up the steps, two at a time.

"JON DOESN'T CARE!" Alicia yelled as she ran up the steps, reaching the door and yanking it open. "HE'S GOING TO KILL HER!"

Alicia ran to where she had left Elyza defenseless, and gasped at what she saw within the unit. Tears flooded her eyes and anger coursed though her veins like pure adrenaline.

Alicia was right.

* * *

 **A/N: I know, I know, I'm very evil. But because I don't want to leave you hanging, the next update will -hopefully- be much sooner. I appreciate all the reviews, and I would love to receive more if you will be so kind. Let me know what you think!  
**

 **Much love to you all!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

* * *

"JON DOESN'T CARE!" Alicia yelled as she ran up the steps, reaching the door and yanking it open. "HE'S GOING TO KILL HER!"

Alicia ran to where she had left Elyza defenseless, and gasped at what she saw within the unit. Tears flooded her eyes and anger coursed though her veins like pure adrenaline.

Jon had flipped Elyza over onto her back and was on top of her, with his hands gripped tightly around her neck, trying to strangle her, while Elyza was now awake and clawing desperately at his hands, but he wasn't relenting.

* * *

Elyza didn't know what happened, one second, she was peacefully asleep and the next a creep flipped her over and was straddling her. It felt disgusting in every way possible and the only reason she wasn't screaming her lungs out was because he had his filthy hands pressed tightly over her mouth and nose. His eyes were full of anger and the vein on his forehead looked like it might burst as he put all his weight onto her. It was painful enough, but the fact that she was on her back, and therefore part of her and his weight was on her wound was enough to bring tears to her eyes. Elyza shuddered in fear, her arms and legs were pinned underneath him and she felt so weak since receiving that bite and losing all that blood. She couldn't fight off this kind of attack. He had complete control, and that terrified Elyza deeply.

Elyza tried her best to kick and scream against him, and eventually she moved her face around enough to bite him, and get a gasp of air as he pulled back his hand, hissing in pain. She only got about two breaths before he attacked again, this time wrapping his hands around her neck and squeezing to completely seal her windpipe. She fought against him, but she couldn't get her arms or legs free. She could feel her face getting hot, and she could do nothing but open and close her mouth, trying to cough and gag but she couldn't get any air through. _He's going to kill me. I'm going to die because of this fucking ass and I can't do anything about it._ She thought that she was done for, that she would die in this dark hell hole.

That is, until she heard a sound like a gong, ringing out, and felt the fingers around her neck loosen.

* * *

Alicia ran to where she had left Elyza defenseless, and gasped at what she saw within the unit. Tears flooded her eyes and anger coursed though her veins like pure adrenaline.

Alicia was right.

Jon was trying to kill Elyza.

Alicia saw how afraid and angry Elyza was, her face turning bright red and eyes watering. Alicia jumped into action, picking up the nearest blunt object – which happened to be a three foot long piece of steel pipe - and brought it down on Jon's head without warning. The pipe clanged against the top of his head, sounding off a gong-like ring, and he groaned, releasing Elyza, rolling off her and cradling his head in his hands.

As soon as Jon was off of her, Elyza bolted up into a sitting position, gasping for air in giant heaves of her chest. The bright color slowly receded from her face and Alicia dropped the pipe with a clang to sit beside Elyza, holding her as she breathed roughly. Elyza's breath was shaky and pained as she tried to regain herself. Her watery eyes moved from Alicia to Jon, who was still groaning on the floor, rocking slowly and muttering curses under his breath. Elyza glared at him and jabbed her right foot repeatedly at him, his face, chest, crotch – Anything her foot could reach as he struggled to crawl away. Elyza was going to scoot closer to resume kicking him, but Alicia held her back.

Travis broke the pause in action by stepping towards Jon, grabbing him by both his arms and yanking him off the ground. Travis punched Jon square in the nose before regaining his grip of him and dragging him away from the two girls, muttering insults at the man while taking him out of sight.

Elyza visibly relaxed at the removal of Jon, and Alicia became concerned for the woman. Elyza was always wanted people to think that she was very tough, but how tough? That whole experience couldn't have been good for her, especially after being mauled a for a second time by infected. Alicia knew Elyza wouldn't want to talk about it, but she would make her. For her health.

"Are you ok? Did he hurt you?" Alicia interrogated and mentally slapped herself for such a dumb question, of course he hurt her, he almost murdered her.

Elyza rolled her eyes, the corners of her mouth turned up into a smirk, she shook her head no. She tried to clear her throat but it sounded pretty rough. The coughing was pretty violent and painful looking, coming in waves every minute or so.

"Peachy." Elyza barely got out before cringing from the immense pain. She shook her head at Alicia with her hand on her throat with the clear outline of fingers. Alicia nodded in understanding, Elyza wouldn't be talking until her throat felt better, _a blessing or a curse?_ Alicia mused mentally, trying to retain humor in the aftermath of such a traumatic event.

"I'm sorry." Alicia said eventually, and Elyza's eyes softened, her mouth opening slightly before closing again, waiting for Alicia to continue.

"Elyza, I was incredibly selfish on the island. I kept baiting you, reeling you in and at the last second cutting the line, because I was afr-." Alicia was interrupted by Elyza's mouthing and hand gestures. She had no idea what she was mouthing but she would act out a fish, and then point to herself confusedly.

Alicia got the message, but didn't like this method of communication. "Yes, yes I know. It's a fish analogy and you're not a fish, but you know what I mean." Elyza smirked, and Alicia knew she was just messing with her as a distraction. "How you still manage to be able to interrupt me without a voice is beyond me. But its really annoying, so can you let me talk?" Alicia said, and Elyza sighed and shrugged.

"I was stupi-." Alicia began but was interrupted by Elyza's head shakes 'no', and her scowl. Alicia groaned and Elyza poked Alicia, pointed to her head and then made a thumbs up gesture, smiling lightly.

"Thanks, but you really need to stop, Jesus, I can only talk to you when you're unconscious." Alicia said and Elyza made a confused face. "Never mind that, the point is that I'm sorry for the on and off again flirting. I thought I needed time to figure out what I was, but rea-." Alicia was cut off yet again by Elyza's head shakes. Elyza was pointing violently at one of the raided cardboard boxes and Alicia stood up to look inside it and found a notepad on the top of it. It took a minute of digging to find a working pen, but she found one and sat back down next to Elyza, scooting close to watch at she was writing, but Elyza insisted on hiding it until she was ready to show Alicia.

Elyza held up the paper and Alicia read it with squinted eyes. " _You needed time to figure out what you were, and I really wasn't helping, just flirting with you because it was fun. but I want to help now. Do you have questions? Do you have an idea of what you might be?"_ Alicia finished reading it and looked into Elyza's softened eyes, she nodded.

"I think I'm bi. I'm definitely attracted to you, but I also had this boyfriend before, his name was Matt, and I really loved him. But… then everything went crazy, and he, he didn't make it out alive." Alicia said, her voice growing soft and far off.

Elyza scribbled away, and Alicia waited patiently, holding back tears. A few seconds later Elyza lifted the notepad. " _I'm so sorry about Matt. In this world we all lose people."_ Alicia looked up at Elyza curiously.

"Who did you lose?" Alicia said and Elyza looked a little surprised and a little evasive, so she continued. "Please, don't play dumb."

Elyza sighed and started writing again. She held it up, " _Her name was Casito, but I lost her long before the end of the world. It's a long story that I don't want to write."_ Alicia looked up and she saw Elyza trying to clear her head of the clearly terrible memories. Alicia nodded in response.

"I'm sorry." Alicia said and Elyza nodded sullenly, before smiling at alicia, perking up and scribbling again.

" _So, bi huh? Nice! I have friends and exes who are bi. Welcome to the_ _Fabulous_ _community."_ Alicia giggled at the last part and Elyza smiled, happy to hear the sound.

"Why thank you, it's a pleasure to be a part of it. Although, since the recent apocalypse I suppose our numbers must have dwindled." Alicia said, hoping to sound humorous, but really sounding kind of dark.

Elyza rolled her eyes playfully and wrote on the paper again. " _All the more reason to take me while you have the chance."_ Alicia looked up andElyza was waggling her eyebrows and she rolled her eyes.

"If you stop nearly dying then maybe I will." Alicia said and gave Elyza a wink. Elyza squinted her eyes but wrote nothing in response. Alicia cleared her throat, "Anyways, I wanted to say I'm sorry. I know what I am now, but really I didn't need to know before telling you that I lo-." Elyza interrupted her again, pressing a finger to Alicia's mouth and Elyza leaned close, her face a mixture of emotions that was hard to read.

Elyza cleared her throat painfully before speaking roughly and full of pain but also with absolute sincerity. "I heard you the first time, princess. I love you too."

Alicia's eyes widened in surprise and joy, and both of them were smiling madly as Alicia pulled Elyza in to a hug. Elyza hissed in pain and tapped her back repeatedly and Alicia realized she had forgotten about Elyza's shoulder. Alicia removed herself from Elyza and leaned over to see how the wound was doing. Elyza sighed and moved, facing away from Alicia so that she had access to the wound. Alicia gingerly peeled back the edge of the bandage. She didn't have to see Elyza to know she was grimacing. Alicia surveyed the wound and it seemed clean, and healing well, although still red near the edge. It probably was still stinging like a bitch, but it was healing nicely.

Alicia scooted over to her backpack where she had retrieved medication for Elyza. She opened it up and found pain killers. She got a bottle of water out of the bag and zipped it up, taking out two pills for Elyza. She scooted back to Elyza, covered up the wound with a clean bandage, taping it into place. She then reached an arm over Elyza's undamaged shoulder, waiting for Elyza's palm to come up before dropping the pills into her hand. Elyza recoiled a bit, craning her neck to look back at Alicia with an expression of distaste.

Of course. She should've known. Of course Elyza would refuse medication, she was too "macho", Alicia wouldn't have it. She handed Elyza the bottle.

"Come on, I can see how painful it looks. Just take them, you'll feel better." Alicia said, and Elyza craned her neck again, shaking her head 'no' and trying to hand the items back to Alicia.

Alicia wouldn't have it. She grasped Elyza's arms near the elbow and pulled them down, pressing them to Elyza's side. She knew Elyza would be weak from the blood loss and recovery, and she wasn't going to not take advantage of it. "Elyza." Alicia said warningly, scooting closer so she could look over Elyza's shoulder and at the items in Elyza's hands. Alicia saw Elyza shake her head again, so she switched tactics.

Alicia pulled back her head slightly and gingerly kissed the base of Elyza's neck, she smiled against Elyza's skin when she heard Elyza gasp and cough. "Please?" Alicia asked again, and this time Elyza only hesitated for a second before popping the pills into her mouth and downing them with water. After Elyza swallowed them, rather painfully, Alicia noted, Alicia kissed Elyza's neck again as a reward. "Thank you."

Elyza turned back to face Alicia, craning her neck to meet her eyes. Elyza looked content and a little lustful as her eyes flickered from Alicia's beautiful green eyes to her perfect pink lips. Alicia took the hint and leaned in, kissing Elyza lightly. Their lips moved gracefully and in perfect unison, and unlike their last kisses, both parties were slow, and deliberate. It was much softer than the aggressiveness that Elyza hadn't known Alicia had. This was sweet, soft, and full of their affirmed love.

Elyza shifted to better face Alicia, one hand anchored to the ground to keep her up, and the other finding Alicia's face. Alicia scooted even closer, her hands gently pulling Elyza's bare waist closer. Elyza granted her wish, scooting closer, their bodies were pressed against each other, Alicia's front against Elyza's side, kissing passionately but with softness. Despite the rather innocent kiss, Alicia's hands wandered, her left reaching to Elyza's right thigh and her right hand dragging against Elyza's back. Elyza smiled against Alicia's mouth and pulled back, to meet Alicia's eyes and took her hands in her own, pulling her towards her. Alicia accepted immediately, shifting to move around and straddle Elyza's thighs.

They went right back into kissing, faster and stronger this time. Elyza's hands getting under Alicia's shirt and dragging her fingers across her back, leaving goosebumps. Alicia's hands were on tangled in Elyza's hair, sometimes pulling lightly to control the pressure of the kiss. Elyza licked at Alicia's bottom lip and Alicia smiled softly before opening her mouth wider, softly massaging Elyza's tongue. They didn't know who started moaning first, but by now they were definitely vocal about their pleasure. Elyza's hands traveled south, grasping Alicia's ass tightly, earning her a squeal of surprise and delight from the girl.

Alicia pulled back to kiss Elyza's neck but Elyza pulled back with a deep intake of air. Alicia focused and realized that she had went to kiss Elyza's very tender bruises, which were dark plum and yellow, distinctly outlining where Jon had placed each and every finger. Alicia's face scrunched up, in apology, but also because she hated to see Elyza like this, bruised and battered.

Elyza saw the pain in Alicia's eyes, and hoarsely whispered. "It's okay, I'm okay." Alicia took her eyes off the bruises and looked into Elyza's, which dripped with sincerity and emotion. Elyza leaned forward and resumed their kiss, Alicia hesitating at first but soon melting back into the heavenly feeling.

Alicia heard someone clear their throat, and pulled back, because it didn't come from Elyza. Elyza looked just as confused until they both looked at the person standing in the doorway of the unit. Travis.

Alicia scrambled off of Elyza, and Elyza immediately started blushing, frozen in embarrassment. Travis cleared his throat again before smiling. "So, will I have to interrogate you about how to treat Alicia right?" He said humorously, and Elyza quickly found her sense of humor.

"No sir, Madison already took care of that. She caught on sooner, sir." Elyza said, smiling.

Travis laughed. "I see, well, you don't have to start calling me sir just because you're dating Alicia. Just Travis is fine."

Alicia and Elyza both smiled before Alicia realized something. "Where is Jon?" She asked curiously and the humor in the room evaporated.

Travis nodded. "I gave him some basic supplies and sent him on his way. Attempted murder isn't tolerated on our island." Alicia and Elyza both sighed in relief. Travis squinted at Elyza's bruises before speaking again. "I'm sorry, if I didn't leave you alone then you probably wouldn't have those marks."

Elyza nodded. "It hurts to speak. But I'll be fine."

The activity in the room paused before Travis spoke again. "So clearly you're somehow immune." he said, unsurely.

Elyza nodded again. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Travis nodded again. "You did lie about it, but you saved Alicia and I can see you're a good person. You can call the island home if you want."

Elyza smiled, and nodded in gratitude. Alicia smiled at her, meeting Elyza's gaze, and Travis, yet again, cleared his throat, catching their attention. Travis smiled. "I'm going to go through the remaining supplies downstairs." He paused, looking pointedly at Alicia. "Don't get into too much trouble while I'm gone."

Alicia rolled her eyes and Elyza laughed. He left and they continued to sit there, gazing into each other's eyes. Elyza smiled mischievously, slowly crawling towards Alicia. "Now. Where were we?" Elyza asked, her voice slowly improving. Alicia closed the distance, leaning in to kiss her as a response. They were face to face again, and Alicia kissed along Elyza's jaw, careful to avoid any bruises. Elyza pulled back, to look at Alicia, who seemed amusingly irritated at the interruption.

"Alicia, I mean it. I love you, and I want to be a part of your life." Elyza said, her voice still scratchy, but softened with emotion.

Alicia smiled, and fought back tears. "I love you too."

Elyza smiled again, and leaned forward to kiss Alicia again. Elyza smiled against Alicia's face and pulled back again. "Then darling, can I call you my girlfriend?" Elyza asked, tears brimming the supposedly tough girl's eyes.

"I would love you to." Alicia answered and they smiled at each other, leaning in to press their foreheads together, and Alicia, more carefully this time, wrapped Elyza into a non-painful hug, kissing her cheek and Elyza sighed in contentedness. They stayed there for several seconds, just enjoying the feeling of overwhelming happiness.

* * *

 **A/N: I know, this chapter is much, much shorter, but I couldn't leave you hanging after that cliffhanger. Consider me a merciful god. Please leave me a review, let me know what you're thinking!  
**

 **Much love to you all!**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

 **A/N: I finally did it. I am so sorry for the long wait, it was literally almost a year. I just lost inspiration, and days turned into months and I was afraid to continue because it had been so long. I hope you enjoy this chapter, you've definitely earned it.**

* * *

Alicia couldn't keep the smile off of her face. Elyza. Her girlfriend! But she had things to do. She had to focus. Elyza still had her wound, plus the bruises on her neck that needed to be checked. Alicia gently prodded Elyza to face away from her, so she could inspect her shoulder, and with only slight hesitation, Elyza did so. Alicia still had a smile on her face as she moved to take off the bandage as carefully as possible. She didn't hear Elyza protest but it was probably still a painfully raw area. She cleared her mind and looked at the wound.

It was still doing very well, it had scabbed over and it wasn't swelling. There was no sign of any infection and Elyza had mentioned that she didn't feel as weak anymore. Alicia doubted that Elyza was completely fine, but for now, they could at least try to get back to the island.

Alicia managed to rummage through and find Elyza an old T-shirt to wear that was pretty baggy, but would work.

Travis had come up to inform them of what they were taking, and ask if anything else was a good idea to take back with them. They had hit the jackpot with weapons, medical supplies and basic survival kits, but the only food they had found was either long past healthy, or freeze dried. They took what was good and stuffed it into their back packs. Elyza had to hold hers on just one shoulder, but she insisted she could carry her own bag. They all got ready to go and headed down to the first floor, Alicia was in front and kept carefully scoping out the area with her flashlight. They moved silently through the darkness. Alicia saw the exit, where a sliver of light poured through the cracked door. She walked out, embracing the sunlight like it was hope itself.

She breathed in the fresh air deeply, her eyes fluttering closed until she felt an arm reach out from behind and pull her backwards, shattering her moment of happiness. The large arms locked her violently into a headlock.

She screamed and Elyza and Travis ran to her, they came out into the sunlight and Elyza's face went from horror to unflinching rage. Alicia recognized the clothes on her attacker. Jon. He had his left forearm right under her jaw and his right hand pressed a knife against her neck. The feel of the cool blade sent a shiver down her spine. She saw the desperation in Elyza's eyes, like a shadow behind her rage.

Alicia then caught a whiff of something she hadn't noticed before, Jon smelt heavily of alcohol and he shuffled from foot to foot, backing away from Elyza and Travis and pressing the knife harder against her neck.

"Listen Jon, you don't have to do this. Just tell us what you want and you can have it." Travis pleaded, while Elyza fumed.

"Drop your weapons." Jon ordered and Travis did so immediately. Elyza hesitated before unholstering her gun and machete, she glared at him as she set them on the ground without a sound.

"You were gonna leave me. Alone! With nothing! You're all assholes!" Jon raged, and Elyza didn't flinch.

"You tried to strangle me you prick." Elyza said, in a bone chillingly

"You ruined my life you bitch! You're lucky I don't just slit your girlfriend's throat right now!" He yelled and he flipped the knife to press the sharp edge to her skin. Alicia flinched as it sliced a fine line into her skin, enough to bring blood. Alicia watched as tears gathered in Elyza's eyes.

That was what hurt the most. Not the knife pressed against her skin, but the pain, and helplessness in Elyza's eyes. Alicia's head tilted back as she saw images flash before her eyes.

She saw Elyza, but she was dressed in clothes she had never seen before, and something told her that even though it was Elyza's face, that it was someone else. This person was angry, and yelling at her, but she couldn't hear what she was saying. The image of Elyza flashed away and a new one filled her mind.

She saw Elyza, close and looking down at her, she felt weak and she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. She saw Elyza crying, and trying to calm her. She felt her vision blur and her eyes close.

Another vision filled her mind, she was in a dark cell and someone held a blade to her neck just as Jon had done. But this man was someone else entirely, he had darker skin and was taller. She heard a man tell him that she was just an innocent girl, but she got the feeling that she wasn't. She heard herself speak in a foreign language to the guards trying to rush in. Alicia had no clue what that language was and she had never heard anything like it in her life. She felt herself punch him in the face, turn around and punch him to the ground, pressing the knife against the stranger's neck.

She gasped and took in the bright light of her world. She was back and she saw Elyza running towards her, and when she looked down, she saw Jon underneath her, a small trickle of blood flowing from where she pressed the knife tight against his neck… just like the dream, or vision. Whatever it was. Elyza came to her side, took the knife from her hands, and Travis came over to pull Jon to his feet. Alicia was still dazed and confused, and she realized Elyza had spoken to her, but she didn't hear what she said.

Elyza hugged her close and asked again. "Alicia. Are you alright?" And Alicia heard this time, nodded, but still dazed from whatever just happened. She was deeply worried. Alicia did not look or act okay.

"Are you sure? What just happened?" Elyza asked, backing away slightly to look at her.

"I-I don't know. I saw something and then I woke up again." Alicia said honestly, and Elyza continued to look very concerned.

"Alicia, do you know what just happened?" Elyza asked, and Alicia hesitated before shaking her head no.

"Your face kind of went blank for like twenty seconds while we argued with Travis. Then you regained consciousness and spoke in some kind of weird language and then just took Jon to the ground! You punched him so hard I think you broke his nose." Elyza ranted, but got concerned when she didn't see recognition in Alicia's eyes.

"N-No, I didn't do that… I didn't. She did." Alicia said slowly, and Elyza was completely lost.

"Tell me what happened." Elyza said, and Alicia nodded, taking time to remember.

"I remember Jon attacking me and holding me, but then I saw these strange images. You were in them, but it wasn't you. It was someone else. In the first one, you were mad at me and yelling at me, and in the second, I was hurt and you looked really sad and then I think I passed out or something. but there was this third one, where there was this man, and he held me the same way Jon had, and I heard her speak and take him down." Alicia said.

"Who? Who was speaking?" Elyza asked.

"I don't know who she was, but I saw what she saw. She spoke to some guards and then took the guy to the ground. then I woke up." Alicia said, and Elyza nodded after a while.

"We have to talk about this. But not now. Right now I have to kill Jon." Elyza said, her voice turning to rage, as she stepped towards the drunk man being held up by Travis.

Jon looked up at her just as he received a punch to his gut. He grunted and the wind was knocked out of him. He fell to the floor and Travis didn't bother trying to pick him back up, he crossed his arms and watched.

Elyza said nothing as she kicked him a second time. He grunted painfully and tears ran down his cheeks. "Please. No more." He begged, and Elyza answered him with a kick to his crotch. He yelled out in pain this time, curling up into a ball as Elyza continued to kick at him.

Alicia stepped towards Elyza, placing a hand on her shoulder, grabbing her attention. "We aren't him. We don't kill people. He's not even worth it." Alicia said and Elyza took in a deep breath before nodding. Elyza squatted down to speak to the crying man.

"I don't ever want to see you again. If I do, you will wish I would've killed you here. Do you understand?" Elyza said quietly, her voice filled with controlled rage.

Jon nodded and Elyza shook her head. "I said; DO YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND?!" She yelled at his face. Jon cringed and cried more before speaking.

"Yes!" He cried fearfully. Travis stepped away from him and Elyza stood up, kicking dirt into Jon's face as she did so. They walked away and didn't turn back.

They walked along an avenue and looked out for walkers, Elyza saw one limping around in a torn dress and drew her machete, but Travis placed a hand on her arm.

"One of the biologists, Victoria, she wants samples." Travis said, and Elyza was confused.

"Of that thing?" Elyza said, pointing towards the biter who hadn't seen them yet.

"Yes. She's been trying to study what exactly the infection is caused by." Travis said, and Elyza nodded in understanding.

"I didn't think anyone cared anymore. But, I guess its nice to know that at least one person is trying to save the rest of us." Elyza said.

"I think she would want samples of your own tissue and blood when we get back. She might figure out why you can survive bites and we can't." Travis said and Elyza paused before nodding.

"As long as there aren't too many needles involved. I don't like them very much." Elyza said with a smile and both Travis and Alicia smiled.

Elyza then walked over to the biter, killed it, and cut off a piece of its cheek to place it in the plastic petri dish that Travis provided. They continued on towards the docks.

It didn't take them too long to get back to the docks, and they only saw a couple biters that were easily disposed of. Alicia looked away every time and Travis didn't do much to hide his cringing after each kill.

Elyza didn't mind killing biters, it was just one less in the world to deal with later. When she first started, she thought that she could get rid of them all, one at a time. Now she knew that was impossible, as far as she knew, the whole world was affected, if she wanted to save it, it would mean killing billions. She was just one person. But she definitely killed over a hundred, maybe even close to five hundred. If that made some impact in protecting someone else, then it was worth it. She couldn't save the world, but maybe she could make it just a little bit safer.

They packed up all the collected supplies back onto the boat and put on their life vests. With one left over of course. It laid on the floor of the boat, an unspoken reminder of the monster they defeated.

Travis started the boat and took it away from shore. Elyza and Alicia stood by the edge of the boat, watching its hull break waves and Alicia watched intently for any sea creatures. Elyza was completely content with watching Alicia's darting eyes and her enamorment with the deep and dark depths of the ocean. Elyza hugged her from behind and kissed behind her ear, resting her head on her shoulder. Alicia smiled against Elyza's head. They just embraced that way for several minutes, watching the waves rise and fall, almost as if in that moment, there hadn't been an apocalypse. A stark contrast to the exhausting day they had.

The shore of the island soon came into view, and Elyza let go to get ready for their return. But Alicia pulled her back and kissed her, a short and sweet kiss before they both pulled away smiling. Elyza winked and turned again to organize the supplies. Alicia helped, and within minutes the boat pulled into the island docks and Alicia was surprised to see nearly everyone there to greet their return, they whistled and waved.

They parked the boat and dropped the supplies onto the concrete. Alicia got hugs from her mother and brother, even one from her step brother. Elyza smiled as she watched the varying types of interaction between Alicia's family. Elyza also noticed two people who apparently weren't related to Alicia, due to the lack of hugging. One, bob, smiling gently and a woman beside him in a lab coat with cherry red hair. Victoria, Elyza guessed, and she approached the woman to give her the biter samples.

"Excuse me, hey, I'm Elyza, I don't think we've met yet but I believe these belong to you." Elyza said and Victoria looked kindly at her with hazel eyes before nodding.

"Yes, those are the samples correct?" She asked and Elyza nodded, handing it over. "Thank you. I'm Victoria. I used to be a immunologist here before everything went crazy. Lately I've been trying to narrow down what the virus could be transferred by, and I may have a theory, but this will definitely help."

Alicia spoke up. "Elyza, we should tell them… You know, about your scars." Alicia said, and Elyza took in a deep breath and nodded.

Elyza headed over to Alicia to face the whole group and took off her life jacket so that she was wearing her baggy T-shirt. She lifted up the hem to expose her back and she heard several gasps.

"I didn't tell you everything about me, and I'm sorry, but early on during the end I got attacked by a horde and they really messed up my back. I got bit again on the trip, but that was almost twenty four hours ago and I'm still fine. My best guess is that somehow, I'm immune." Elyza said, and several more gasps went throughout the crowd.

"That's absolutely… Fascinating." Victoria said, stepping forward to touch one of the older scars that was below Elyza's neck. Elyza flinched at first but didn't stop her.

"So you were exposed but you didn't turn." Victoria clarified and Elyza nodded. Victoria continued tracing the scars, deep in thought until her hand reached the bandage of the new wound.

"Have you ever had any symptoms of the fever? Anything?" Victoria asked and Elyza shook her head no. Alicia shifted from one leg to the other, getting slightly irritable.

"This is… absolutely fascinating. Would you mind if you came over later so I could take a closer look at these bites?" Victoria asked, rather enthusiastically.

"I think we have to get our stuff back to the house first." Alicia said, and Victoria nodded. Elyza took a step forward and pulled down her shirt, turning around to shake the woman's hand.

"I'll be sure to stop by afterwards." Elyza promised and Victoria smiled before walking away.

Elyza turned to Alicia and was slightly surprised to see and her glaring at Victoria. Elyza frowned and stepped closer to Alicia, while everyone else was helping to bring supplies back to the house.

"Hey, are you alright?" Elyza asked, she had no idea what Alicia was upset about. She clearly wanted to avoid it by the way she immediately grabbed a bag and started to walk to the house after a curt 'fine.'

Elyza grabbed a bag and caught up with Alicia, linking their arms and pulling her a little closer.

They got back to the house and went into their room to change. Elyza changed in the bathroom and Alicia in the room. Elyza came out in a band tank top with tight black jeans and aviator sunglasses.

"Check it out. Found these babies in the second storage unit. Makes me look badass, right?" Elyza bragged and Alicia laughed.

"They do seem to suit you." Alicia admitted and walked over to her girlfriend, to kiss her. They kissed and Alicia lifted the glasses off of Elyza's head and as soon as she got them she took a step back, ending the kiss and putting them on. "But I think they suit me better."

Elyza scoffed and laughed softly. "I think anything would suit you well, those glasses, a real suit, your birthday suit…" Elyza trailed off cheekily, and Alicia playfully punched her.

"You just think you're _soo_ funny, don't you?" Alicia said, sitting on the bed and pulling Elyza close. "You're lucky I think you're funny too." Alicia said, and kissed her, pulling at the sides of her band tank top to get her just a little bit closer.

Elyza cradled Alicia's jaw with her palm, and the left hand was pressing gently on the middle of her back. They kissed for a few more seconds before Alicia pulled away.

"We have to get you all scienced up, remember?" Alicia said and Elyza laughed. "Maybe she can find out why you're immune."

"I hope so, because I have no clue." Elyza said and they separated, Alicia went first down the stairs and Elyza followed close behind. They left the house and Elyza held Alicia's hand the whole time to the science department. They chatted away, swinging their conjoined hands until they got to the right building. Elyza opened the door for Alicia and Alicia smiled at the gesture. They saw Victoria waiting in the hallway and Elyza stepped forward.

"So, I was hoping I could look at those scars, take some skin samples, and then some of your normal tissue for a control. I was also hoping to take some blood if you aren't too afraid of needles." Victoria said as they walked into her office which was clean and neat with cat themed motivational posters on the walls.

"Uh, sure. I guess." Elyza said hesitantly but Victoria didn't notice. The truth was that Elyza hated needles and tried her best to avoid them altogether. But she wasn't going to act like a child in front of Victoria and definitely not in front of Alicia.

"Ok, so if you could remove your shirt and I just need to swab at some of the scar tissue." Victoria said calmly and Alicia shifted in her hard plastic seat. Elyza did as she was told, smoothly removing her shirt and facing away from Victoria so she could have access to her back.

"May I ask how old these scars are?" Victoria said while swabbing a bite mark, avoiding the bandaged area.

"About a year or so." Elyza answered, and Victoria wrote it down and put the swab in a sterile container.

"Interesting… Now I need a swab of DNA from undamaged tissue. A cheek swab would work, could you turn around for me?" Victoria asked. Elyza shifted around, and Victoria readied another swab.

Victoria reached out, and grabbed Elyza's face, cupping it softly.

"Could you open up for me?" Victoria asked, and Elyza hesitated, then opened her mouth. "Thank you, sweetie."

Victoria swabbed her cheek and Alicia shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Trying to convince herself that she was overreacting.

Victoria placed the swab in a tube and let go of Elyza's face. "Alright, If you're still up for it I'd like a blood sample, it would allow me to study your antibodies."

"Sure." Elyza answered, easily, even though she knew it was not going to be easy.

"Great. Just sit tight. I'll go get the supplies." Victoria said, leaving the room.

The silence stretched as they listened to her heels fade down the hallway.

"So…" Elyza said awkwardly, not sure why her girlfriend seemed so tense. "Do you think she'll give me a lollypop after this?"

Alicia didn't answer.

"Hey." Elyza cooed softly, taking her girlfriend's hand in hers. "What is it? Is it Jon?"

Alicia forced herself to calm down. "No. It's not a big deal." Alicia said, and she could see that Elyza wasn't willing to accept that. "I don't like needles." Alicia lied, and Elyza seemed to accept that.

"Why don't you go stand in the hallway when she comes back?" Elyza offered.

"What?" Alicia was caught off guard.

"That way you don't have to see the needle."

"Oh." Alicia knew she was just trying to help, and as much as she didn't like Victoria, she knew that she could trust Elyza completely. "Ok. Fine. But do me a favor?"

"Anything." Elyza said smiling.

"Put on your shirt."

Elyza laughed, picking it up off the floor. "Oh, I see, I'm a distraction am I?"

Alicia rolled her eyes as Elyza put the tank top back on. She stood and left the room, almost bumping into Victoria, who held a tray full of medical tools. Alicia apologized and leaned against the wall of hallway, listening closely.

Victoria smiled brightly at Elyza. "I guess she's not a fan of needles, huh?"

Elyza laughed softly, as Victoria set up her tools. "No. I guess not. But to be honest, neither am I."

"Well, If you get nervous you can hold my hand." Victoria said softly, and added a wink.

Elyza blinked. "Uh. I think I'll be okay."

Victoria just smiled softly as she swabbed Elyza's arm with an alcohol swab, and readied the needle.

"Small pinch." Victoria said as she pushed the needle into her arm. Elyza cringed and had to look away. She looked back and saw her blood run up the tube as Victoria pulled back on the plunger.

"Still okay?" Victoria asked.

Elyza smiled uneasily. "Sure."

She pulled out the needle and applied a small bandage. "All done."

Alicia walked in, leaning against a motivational poster. "Ready to go?"

Elyza stood, and stretched. "Yup."

"Thank you for the samples, I might have some information for you in a few days." Victoria said.

"No problem." Elyza said, leaving the room.

As they exited the building Elyza laughed to herself.

"What?" Alicia asked suspiciously.

"You're not afraid of needles, are you?"

"What? Of course I am." Alicia lied.

Elyza raised an eyebrow. "Liar."

Alicia rolled her eyes.

"You were _jealous_..." Elyza teased, sing-songy.

"You're so immature." Alicia said coldly.

"And you love me for it." Elyza added. Wrapping her arm around her waist.

Alicia couldn't hide a small smile.

"And I love you, jealousy and all." Elyza said, and Alicia kissed her.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: This one's a short one, but there's more to come.**

* * *

They got back to the house in time for dinner. Elyza explained where Jon was when Madison asked, and they seemed to understand why he didn't deserve to come back. After that, the conversation shifted, and everyone was at ease. Elyza washed the dishes after they finished, dried them and put them away.

Alicia had gone up to her room to change, and got comfortable in bed, patiently waiting for Elyza, who did come up to her room, changed into more comfortable clothing and laid down next to Alicia.

She faced Alicia, who was smiling, and reached out to bring Alicia's face to hers. They kissed lazily, scooting closer under the covers.

Alicia kissed Elyza's neck and pulled back, checking to see if the finger shaped bruises had faded. They had, only light purple marks were left.

"How's your back?" Alicia asked, breaking their kiss.

"Who cares?" Elyza said, pulling Alicia back to her.

Alicia giggled. "I do. Turn."

Elyza groaned in annoyance and turned around, allowing Alicia to have a look at the wound.

Alicia pulled back the bandage, it was healing well, but it would take at least a week before it wouldn't bother her. She reapplied the bandage, patting Elyza on the back. "Looks good."

Elyza turned around quickly and resumed kissing Alicia. "Good." Elyza added more and more pressure with each kiss, and suddenly, She was on top of the brunette.

Elyza kissed Alicia's neck, while her hands roamed her back under her shirt. Alicia took a handful of Elyza's shirt on both sides of her waist and pulled her down, capturing her lips. Elyza slowly pushed up Alicia's shirt, yanking on it until Alicia stopped to pull it over her head, leaving her in a bra. Elyza sighed deeply, kissing Alicia's collarbone, and slowly making her way down. Alicia stopped her to pull off Elyza's tank top, and pulling her flush against her, skin to skin. By now they were both panting, Alicia kissed Elyza's ear, and whispered to her softly.

"I really hate to say this…" Alicia started to say and Elyza pulled away trying not to let Alicia see her disappointment . Alicia smiled at the pouting Australian, and sat up, kissing her on the cheek before continuing. "Your back needs to heal. You know that."

"I can take pain." Elyza grumbled.

"I know you can, but you need more time. And so do I." Alicia admitted guiltily.

Elyza leaned close. "I know." She said, and kissed her softly with passion.

"I'm just a little anxious becau-"

"Shh." Elyza cut her off. "You don't need a reason. I know I can be a little pushy, but believe me, I am happy with where we are right now. There's no rush."

Alicia smiled and kissed her. "Stop being so sentimental. You'll make me change my mind."

Elyza laughed. "Oh really? Maybe I should recite a poem for you or something. Cause you know there's nothing sexier than Shakespeare."

Alicia laughed and kissed her again before they both drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"Hello."

Alicia grunted.

"Cupcake." Elyza sang, poking her girlfriend's cheek.

"Go 'way." Alicia grunted again.

"That's no way to treat your girlfriend, now is it?" Elyza teased.

Alicia turned over, trying to ignore her.

"What? No clever comeback? No sarcasm?" Elyza teased. "I'm disappointed, honestly."

"What time is it?" Alicia asked grumpily.

"Nine. Time to get your ass out of bed." Elyza chirped.

Alicia groaned and sat upright, stretching her arms toward the ceiling. "What? there aren't any weekends in the apocalypse anymore? No sleeping in on Sundays?"

"Not that it matters but its Tuesday. I try to keep track."

"Its official then, Tuesday is the new Sunday, now come back to bed with me." Alicia begged, reaching out towards Elyza.

Elyza rolled her eyes. "Tempting. But I have things I want to do today."

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Alicia deadpanned.

"Get up and I'll show you."

"Fine. I'll meet you downstairs. Give me five minutes."

"Sweet." Elyza smiled, giving her a kiss.

Alicia slowly got dressed, combed her hair and went down stairs, to see Elyza on the couch, laughing and chatting with her mother.

Alicia laughed. "What are you two laughing about?"

"Oh nothing. What are you two planning on doing today?"

"That's a secret." Elyza smiled cheekily.

"Oh, that secret?" Madison giggled.

"Yeah." Elyza chuckled. "That one."

Alicia looked between the two of them. "Why do I feel like something terrible is about to happen to me?"

"Don't worry." Madison told her daughter. "You'll like it."

Elyza got up from her seat. "We gotta go. I'll see you later Madison!"

"You two have fun!" Madison waved, giggling. Elyza pulled Alicia by the hand out of the house, still laughing.

Alicia laughed. "Are you always this good with the parents?"

Elyza scoffed, shooting her a slick smile. "I'm usually not the type you bring home to the parents."

"Ha! Lies. You're a big softie and everyone knows it." Alicia smiled. "I bet you charmed lots of parents in your day."

"In my day?!" Elyza scoffed, offended. "Excuse me, but I'm not as ancient as you're making me sound."

Alicia laughed. "Debatable."

"Your gonna regret insulting me when we get to the beach." Elyza smiled, leading Alicia towards the expansive ocean.

"What's at the beach?" Alicia asked.

"Come and see."

They ran down to the beach, giggling all along the way. Until they came to sand, where obscure lines were drawn in the sand.

"No!" Elyza yelled. "Goddamn it!"

"What? What's wrong?" Alicia asked, putting her hand on her shoulder.

Elyza sighed, pointing to the strange lines drawn in the sand. "It was supposed to say, 'first date?', but it got washed away." Elyza said sadly.

Alicia burst out laughing.

"Hey. What's so funny, I was just trying to be romantic." Elyza complained.

Alicia could barely get the words out. "That is, simultaneously, the dumbest, and cutest thing."

Elyza rolled her eyes. "Come on, there's more."

"Are you sure it didn't wash away?" Alicia cackled.

"Yes." Elyza said curtly, slightly annoyed.

She walked over to a trash bag lying in the sand, and started rummaging through it.

"Uh, Elyza? What's that?" Alicia asked, slightly worried.

"Breakfast." Elyza said, placing Tupperware on top of bag, laying out the foods. Alicia gave her a strange look.

"I couldn't find a basket, okay?!" Elyza yelled. "And trash bags were the only thing I had at the time."

Alicia struggled to contain her laughter, but she did her best, and sat down to eat with Elyza. At the very least, the food was good and the view was nice.

"So, Anything else planned for today?" Alicia asked, picking up a strawberry.

"Yeah. I was thinking we could go swimming when you're done." Elyza enthused.

"Oh."

"What? What does 'Oh' mean?" Elyza asked, desperate.

"I just, I don't have my swimsuit. I have to walk back to the house and get it." Alicia said softly.

Elyza slumped over on the sand.

"Are you okay?" Alicia said, scooting over to sit next to her.

"No."

"What's wrong?"

"I knew I forgot something. This whole thing has just been fail after fail. I've ruined it." Elyza said sadly.

Alicia laughed.

"Why are you laughing?" Elyza nearly cried.

"Because I love it. It flawed, sure. but its you. Its absolutely adorable. This is still the best date I've ever been on. I'll go get my swimsuit. Okay?" Alicia said.

Elyza smiled, and kissed her. "Okay."

* * *

Alicia got up and ran to the house, ran up to her room and changed into her bikini as fast as she could and headed back out to the beach.

"Hey!" Elyza waved from the edge of the water, she was now wearing a black bikini that must've been under her clothes. She looked amazing, and she was wearing her new Aviator sunglasses.

"Hey." Alicia smiled, walking over. "Is it cold?"

"Yeah, but its not too bad." Elyza said, beckoning her over.

Alicia took Elyza's hand, squealing a little when the water lapped onto her toes. Elyza laughed and pulled her into a kiss, to distract her wile she waded them out to their ankles.

Alicia broke away. "It _is_ cold."

"Well duh." Elyza said. "You'll get used to it faster if you just suck it up and jump in." Backing away, she emphasized her point by diving in, swimming out and waving Alicia towards her.

Alicia frowned at the water.

"Come on!" Elyza yelled. "I feel better already."

"Fine." Alicia yelled back. "I just need a moment." Alicia took small steps out into the water, cringing as the water rose, inch by inch. When it got to her hips she was shivering, and Elyza waded over to her.

Elyza saw her shivering and laughed. "Is someone feeling a little chilly?"

"Shut up." Alicia said, with shaking teeth.

Elyza laughed and leaned forward, taking her face into her hands, and kissing her softly.

Alicia wrapped her arms around her surprisingly warm girlfriend and kissed her back, smiling as she did so. Elyza slowly waded them out even further, the water deepening a few inches.

"No. Its cold." Alicia complained.

"Relax. Trust me, you'll be fine." Elyza said, kissing her again. Alicia shook her head and ran her fingers through Elyza's wet hair.

Elyza suddenly had on a cheeky grin and Alicia couldn't get away fast enough. Elyza grabbed on to Alicia's waist and pulled her down under the water, only letting go when she was fully submerged.

Alicia came up screaming. Elyza came up laughing, nearly choking on water because of it.

Alicia slapped Elyza on the shoulder, and Elyza pulled her in for a kiss.

"That's better, isn't it?" Elyza asked.

It was better, the water was more acceptable, but Alicia wouldn't admit that. "No, it was cruel."

Elyza only laughed, dipping her head under water to fix her hair. When she surfaced , only her head was out, and she pulled Alicia down to her level.

"Then why aren't you shivering anymore?" Elyza asked, raising her eyebrow.

Alicia didn't answer, instead only rolling her eyes. They swam around, kissing and laughing for several more minutes, until the got out and Elyza produced two towels from the garbage bag.

Alicia dried her hair and laughed. "Wow, I am surprised you remembered to bring towels."

"Shut up." Elyza laughed, drying herself off.

Alicia strode over to her, kissing her softly. "Thanks for this, it was really nice."

Elyza laughed and did her best infomercial impression. "But wait! There's more!"

Alicia laughed, "Really?"

"Yup."

"Was it thought through carefully?"

"…Yes."

"Ok then, lead the way."

Elyza smiled and they held hands, their towels wrapped around them as they walked towards the house.

Suddenly, they saw Victoria, walking over to them, looking frantic.

"Hi, Victoria, how are you?" Alicia asked nervously.

"Good. Listen, I hate to interrupt but I think I have some news you might want to hear." Victoria said enthusiastically.

"Well," Elyza looked over to Alicia, "Is it really important?"

"Absolutely."

Elyza sighed, "Can we have a moment?"

Victoria nodded and they walked away a few paces.

"Listen, I'm really sorry." Elyza started. "I wouldn't consider it if it weren't so important."

Alicia sighed sadly. "No its fine, I understand."

Elyza reached out holding Alicia's face. "This isn't over yet. When I get back we'll pick up where we left off, for now just get into some dry clothes okay?"

"Okay." Alicia smiled, looking over at Victoria and pulling Elyza in for a very deliberate kiss. But the redhead wasn't looking in their direction. "At least put some clothes on first."

Elyza walked over to Victoria and told her that she'd meet her at her office.

"Are you sure you aren't jealous?" Elyza asked cheekily, quickly pulling on a T-shirt and shorts.

"I am above that now." Alicia said calmly.

"M-hmm, okay." Elyza said, pulling on her leather jacket. She kissed Alicia on the cheek. "You can come if you want."

"That sounds like a good idea." Alicia agreed quickly.

"Lets go."


End file.
